Egyptian Shadow Destinies
by crazydominodragongirl
Summary: (AU) Unable to find a spell to lock the Shadow Realm away forever, Yami, Bakura, and Marik used one that would only last for 5,000 years. In the present, they and Yugi, Malik, and Ryou must go on a quest to seal away the Realm for good...
1. Prologue

Yay!  New (really weird) ficcie!  If you couldn't tell, this'll definitely be AU.  If the Millennium Items were never created, then how was the Shadow Realm sealed away and what would happen to Yugi and friends in the future?  Oh, and I call Yami Malik Marik.  It wouldn't make sense if everyone calls him Yami Malik in ancient Egypt.  Bakura, Yami, and Marik are all sixteen in the prologue of this story.

Disclaimer:  Yu-Gi-Oh! was created and is owned by a genius.  I am not a genius.  Therefore, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!  The only things I do own are the personalities of a few characters who'll appear in the future, some of the evil guys, and the Scroll of Millennia.  Understand?  Good.  Now, on with the fic!

Notes:

"Speech"

'Thoughts' 

@_@ @_@=scene change

No Items=no yamis=no soul link.  Otay, that's all for now.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Prologue

Memphis, Egypt, 5,000 years ago

A couple months ago, the common folk and slaves of Egypt would have said things couldn't get any worse.  Two weeks ago, the priests and priestesses declared it to the public.  The Pharaoh himself had started believing the same thing a week past.

They were all wrong.

Yeah, the monsters were wreaking havoc on Egypt.  Yeah, they were after the Pharaoh.  Yeah, they were controlled by evil sorcerers who wanted to rule the world.  Yeah, the high priest had turned traitor.  So what?  It was nothing compared to this.

After all, nothing but the most dire situation could get these three to work together.

Pharaoh, thief, and slave sat at the same table, glaring daggers at each other.  The walls of the room were lined with guards, all on alert for the slightest order from Yami.  Any sign of danger to the Pharaoh would have all fifty attacking.  Tension filled the air, and no one dared to speak for the longest time.  Despite the urgency of the situation, no opinions were voiced.  This meeting was called to help protect the empire, but it was getting nowhere _very_ quickly.

Finally, the tomb robber sighed and leaned back in his chair, getting the attention of all in the room.  He brushed his white bangs out of his eyes before saying irritably, "So tell me again, _Pharaoh_, just _what_ is the purpose of this?"  His disdain for the ruler was evident in his voice and the mocking way the title was said.

The Pharaoh barely managed to subdue his anger, but his impatience was still obvious in his voice.  "Bakura.  Even you must have taken note of the…recent events?" He waited for an answer, but Bakura only rolled his eyes.  "Seth is gaining more power.  Soon he will take over Egypt, and then he will set his sights higher."

The slave interrupted at this point, his fuchsia eyes narrowed in suspicion.  "And what would we care if you were overthrown?  The day that happens, I suppose Bakura and I, along with the rest of the so-called lower class, will have a celebration."  The thief nodded in agreement.  Along the walls, the guards gripped their weapons tighter, ready to kill this impudent pest.  Ignoring them, the slave continued.  "I plan on making it an even bigger and more festive occasion than your crowning, though it might be hard to accomplish.  I seem to remember an assassination attempt."

Yami growled softly at the last comment, then continued with his explanation.  "As I was saying… Seth will aim to take over the world.  Any land he conquers will be adjusted to fit his needs.  Egypt will no longer be as it is now.  Seth will destroy all who oppose him, and everyone else will be forced to work, either in his army or as his slaves.  The tombs will be desecrated, and all the gold and treasures inside he will keep for himself.  Remember," he added to Bakura, who had been looking bored, "Seth knows the location of all the tombs, so there will be none left for you to rob."

"Ah, well, then I'll steal from the merchants."  Bakura shrugged.  A mischievous grin spread slowly over his face.  "Of course, there's always _your_ tomb."  The Pharaoh snarled, and the slave snickered.

Yami had to struggle to keep his anger from showing.  "Only if I die before you," he snapped.  "But if you wish to live in a country ruled by a psychopathic maniac, then I'll just let you sit around and twiddle your thumbs while this land is destroyed.  There _is_ a reason I called you here today, you know."

"Oh, of _course_ there is."  Bakura yawned.  "You know I'm the best duelist in the whole of Egypt, and Marik's second best.  You called us because you want lessons on how to conduct a proper Shadow Game, so you won't lose the next one."

"There's more to it than that, Bakura, and you know it," Marik said, finally serious.  "The Pharaoh knows how much we hate him, so the only reason he would summon us is if there was a dire threat to Egypt – either that, or he has a death wish.  I think there's more to this situation than the general population knows."

"For sure," Yami answered impatiently.  "For one thing, the rumors flying around about the size of Seth's army-" he was cut off by Bakura.

"The rumors say he has fifty powerful sorcerers on his side, and, though some believe it, most think that number has been greatly exaggerated.  The loyal priests are trying to convince the people that he has much less than that, but the truth is that the numbers are nearing one hundred.  All have fully mastered the power to summon and control the monsters, and most have rare and powerful beasts.  Seth only accepts those that have survived at least three years of the Shadow Games, meaning they are the most powerful in the world.  He is taking over villages daily, and taking possession of their best monsters.  Then, of course, there is the matter of the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragons.  One would be enough of a problem, but Seth has three, all of which are completely loyal to him.  You and your supporters have been trying to develop new types of tablets to use against him, but the information has somehow leaked to Seth, and he is learning how to use these new magic and traps for himself.  Meanwhile, the number of magicians helping you is decreasing; some are going over to Seth's side, but most are being defeated by him, and their strongest monsters are now being forced to help him."  Yami sent him a puzzled and slightly questioning look, and Bakura grinned.  "You forget, I'm the King of Thieves.  I pick things up here and there – especially when on a palace raid."

Yami took a deep, calming breath.  He was tempted to scream at the irksome thief.  He knew all this, and yet he didn't care?…  "All right.  Now that Bakura has so kindly informed us about the situation-" Bakura grinned, sensing the Pharaoh's irritation. "-you know what we are up against.  Seth will be merciless, and he will destroy all who get in his way.  Also, he will kill me and anyone he knows has recently met with me, including you two."

"Oh, is that the real reason you called us here?"  Bakura asked.  "So we'd be forced to help you or be killed slowly and painfully by your former high priest?  Well, I doubt he'd kill us if we murdered you for him… unless, of course, if he wanted to save that honor for himself…" The guard leaning against the wall behind Bakura let out a particularly loud snore, then jerked awake at the last comment, aiming his glaive rather sleepily at the thief.  Bakura raised an eyebrow.  "Nice reflexes.  _Very_ nice reflexes.  Seth could use someone like you in his army.  Did you even hear what I said?"  The guard made no response, but the sheepish blush crawling up his face was all the answer they needed.

Yami scowled at him, and the guard made a mental promise to himself to _never_ fall asleep on duty again.  Ever.  The Pharaoh turned back to the white-haired thief and said calmly, "Well, that _could_ be one of the reasons… or it could be I truly need your help, as you two have some of the most powerful magic to be found in Egypt.  You could help Seth and cause as much death and destruction as you like-" Bakura grinned, his hand moving to his belt dagger.  Yami rolled his eyes and continued, "-or you could help me, save Egypt and the world, and get honored for your assistance."

Marik leaned back and thought about that for a moment.  "Hmm… well, we haven't got anything to lose, except maybe a bit of our dignity at having stooped so low as to help the Pharaoh."

"Well, I'd be more well-known and more easily caught if I try to steal after being 'honored,' " Bakura began, "so that is definitely a down side, as well as the fact that I get to kill less people.  If I go against Seth and lose, I'll most certainly die a very painful death, and the same goes for if I try to stay neutral.  But, if I _don't_ help you, then in the very unlikely chance that I will be defeated, I will die, though not as painfully, and I'll still have the satisfaction of sending people to the Shadow Realm, but these will be less worthy opponents.  And, if I declare that I'll work for Seth and then try to walk out of here, I doubt I'll get out alive.  So, both choices are equally appealing, and that leads me to my next question: What have we got to gain?"  The slave sighed, apparently wondering why it took him so long to ask a simple question.

Before the Pharaoh could answer, Marik interrupted.  "That's all very well, but what can we do to stop Seth?"

Yami looked slightly sheepish.  "That's the problem.  I don't know what to do about Seth."

Bakura rolled his eyes.  "_What_ have I gotten myself into?  

"It's not that bad," the Pharaoh began.  "For one thing-"

"I don't want to listen to your lousy excuses."  Bakura snapped.  "Can't you just tell us what we will be rewarded?"

"Well, that depends what you want," Yami answered.  "You can have almost anything that is within my power to give."

"Gold," Bakura said promptly, ever the tomb robber at heart.  "Gold, jewels, treasure, and no publicity whatsoever."  Marik hesitated a moment before nodding, but he choked at Bakura's next words.  "Oh, and maybe a woman, too.  That would be nice."

Yami's eyes narrowed.  "Fine.  Everything but the woman."

Bakura shook his head in mock sadness.  "Alas, the Pharaoh drives a hard bargain.  Okay then," he said, suddenly cheerful.  "Ten pounds of gold, five of silver, twenty of jewels, and twenty thousand gold coins and we have a deal.  Thank you very much, Yami!  I'm heading to Cairo now for my first Shadow Game."  And with that, he walked out.

Yami glanced at Marik.  "For some reason, I feel like I have been sorely cheated."  The slave shrugged.

"I'll just have fifty thousand gold coins," he said mildly, then left to join Bakura.

Yami stood there for a few moments, then sighed.  "And they say _I_ drive a hard bargain," he muttered, then went out to help Simon research in the library.

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The Pharaoh sneezed as he entered the library of the capital of Egypt, then stared around at the many shelves with great dislike.  He had no problem with reading, except maybe the extremely long and boring history of his ancestors, but he'd never really been fond of this place.  For one thing, many of the documents were so old that they had a slightly musty smell, and the place was always very dusty, making him sneeze every two minutes.  The bookshelves were huge, full of multi-colored books and scrolls and many of them reaching twenty feet into the air.  This irritated Yami to no end, considering the average Egyptian needed a pretty tall ladder to reach the top shelves, and he was shorter than the average Egyptian.  Plus, this place was _massive_.  It was very nearly three miles to the other end, and all the tables were grouped along one wall.  The wall farthest from the door.

As he started the long journey to the other side, Yami muttered, "I swear, sometimes I wish this place would just _burn_…" No matter if tons of ancient history was lost.  He'd memorized all the important stuff anyway.  And according to his teacher Simon, pretty much the entire library was full of important stuff.

When Yami passed the two thousand five hundred ninety-third shelf (he'd counted them all as a child), he finally reached the tables at the end of the room, where he found Simon poring over a green book.  He slid into a chair next to his advisor, who barely spared him a glance before going back to his reading.

"I picked those out from the shelves closest to here," Simon said, waving at the four-foot tall piles of books close to him.  "You might as well start reading now, and read quickly.  We have a lot more to search through."

Yami shrugged and reached for book with a purple and silver cover, in a stack all its own.  Simon looked up just in time to yell, "Don't touch that!"

The Pharaoh drew his hand back quickly.  "Why not?"

Simon tossed the book he had been reading into a large and messy pile next to his chair.  "I wouldn't suggest trying to read it.  It bites."

Yami scoffed at that.  " 'It bites?'  Don't be ridiculous.  How can a book bite?"  And, ignoring the look on his friend's face, Yami reached for the book, grabbed it by the spine, and put it in front of him.

Grinning slightly at Simon's surprised look, Yami made to flip it open.  "See?  It doesn't-" He broke off in a howl of pain.  The book had suddenly sprouted large golden fangs from its front cover and bitten his hand very, very hard.

Simon had to hide a smile at Yami's shocked look.  "I told you it bites," he said, holding back a snicker at the way Yami was sucking at his hand.  "Maybe you should go see the palace healer, my Pharaoh.  I still haven't figured out if the fangs are poisonous.  Of course, the long walk across the library will help the poison spread faster.  Would you like me to call someone to carry you?" This time, he couldn't help chuckling as Yami glared at him.

"I'll be fine," the Pharaoh muttered, inspecting his hand.  "The bleeding will stop soon, and I doubt there would be anything in this library that would poison a Pharaoh.  Now, as for you," he glared at the book, "your fangs better not be poisoned.  And cooperate this time, or I'll send you to the Shadow Realm!"  Behind him, Simon was in a silent fit of hysterics.  Send a _book_ to the Shadow Realm, indeed!

The naughty little volume seemed to have heard him, however, as it pulled up its lower lip over its fangs and began to sulk.  Yami blinked.  "Okay, now I just have to read it…" The fangs disappeared, and Yami reached for the book.  His hand was almost there when the fangs reappeared, this time twice as long as before with a green, venomous-looking substance dripping from them.

Yami recoiled and began a long string of Egyptian curses.  Simon just shook his head, still laughing.  _'That's quite a personality that book has.  Whoever made it must be proud.'_

Having finally reached the end of his long string of insults (a part of Yami's mind whispered, _'Directed at a _book_ of all things!  A _BOOK_!  What is this world coming to?'_), the Pharaoh drew a deep breath and stretched out his hand toward the infuriating nuisance that Simon dared call a book.  It seemed to pause for a moment, then stretched out a purple-colored hand of its own, complete with long, sharp, silver-painted nails.  Yami didn't wait for it to touch him, however.  "MIND CRUSH!!!!!"

"No!  Wait!"  Simon yelled, but it was too late.  The book let out a long, piercing shriek and burst into a thousand pieces.  The Pharaoh turned to him, grinning, but Simon was wearing an extremely hurt look.  "That book could have the spell we need!"

Yami's look turned to one of chagrin.  "Oh no!  I forgot!  But maybe the spell's in another book somewhere."

Simon sighed.  "I hope you're right.  But that was an ancient book!  It's a valuable piece of ancient history!  Who _knows _what might have been in it!  And you sent it to the Shadow Realm!"

Yami shrugged.  "Ah well.  What's done is done.  But I wonder," he frowned.  "How exactly could I send a book to the Shadow Realm if it doesn't really have a mind?"

His advisor looked equally puzzled.  "I have no idea," he said.  "But you somehow managed it…"

The Pharaoh grinned suddenly.  "So I just sent a book to the Shadow Realm.  Cool.  I wonder if I could do it again?"  He eyed the stacks of books happily, sizing them up.

However, Simon grabbed the books and pulled them close.  "No!  These are for research."

"Oh well.  I guess it's back to work."

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They kept at it for the rest of the day.  And the day after.  And the day after that.

It was on the fourth day of this endless research that Bakura wandered in.  After two hours of pointless meandering around, he finally reached the tables at the end of the library, where he found Yami and Simon deeply engaged in reading various spell books.

"Oh, Pharaoh," the thief sang.  Yami looked up, startled.  He hadn't heard Bakura approach.  The white-haired tomb robber continued, "I was hoping to discover another treasure room in the palace, but look what I find instead.  An even more amazing discovery – you can read!"

Yami scowled.  "I've known how to read for thirteen years now, Bakura.  And for your information, we're researching ways to seal the Shadow Games and defeat Seth.  Have _you_ been doing anything half as useful?"

"Actually, Yami, I have," Bakura replied flippantly.  "I've been defeating all the evil sorcerers I came across.  Of course, sometimes it's hard to tell the good from the evil, considering they're all after me anyway…" Yami looked SERIOUSLY annoyed at that.  _'Bakura's supposed to be on _my _side!'_

"All right, then, tomb robber," Yami growled.  "If you can't tell the difference between good and evil, then you might as well help us research."

"I hope you have less of a temper than my Pharaoh," Simon snickered.  "Why, he sent a book to the Shadow Realm just because it bit him!"  Yami glared at him.

"Why, Pharaoh, I didn't know you have such an anger management problem," Bakura chuckled.  "Sending a poor, innocent book to the Shadow Realm…"

"You wouldn't have thought it innocent if you'd seen it," Yami grumbled.  "Anyway, are you going to help us research or do you not know how to read?"

"I can read, Pharaoh," Bakura said.  "After all, I manage to follow the signs that say 'Treasure Room this way,' don't I?"

Yami ignored the last comment and tossed the tomb robber a book with a turquoise and gold cover.  Bakura opened it, and a pair of large green eyes appeared.  Bakura blinked.  The book blinked back.  "What in the name of Ra…?"

Simon shrugged.  "I don't know, either.  We don't usually look at the more ancient spell books."

Cautiously, the thief prodded the eyes with a finger.  They closed, and then opened again when Bakura moved his finger away.  They stared at him for a second, and then large tears appeared in its eyes.

Yami glanced up.  "Ignore the eyes," he advised as the book started crying.  "Just read it and see if you can find anything useful."

"Okay," Bakura said, and flipped the page.  The eyes followed, staring at him reproachfully.  Bakura started to scan the page, except the eyes kept getting in his way.  The thief sighed.  "Stupid eyes!  Get out of the way!"  The book started crying again.

Yami started chuckling.  "You know, you _could_ try asking it nicely, Bakura," he said.

Bakura snorted.  "How?  Like, will you pretty please get out of the way while I read this book?" he asked sarcastically.  Much to his surprise, the eyes moved to the opposite page and watched him intently.  The tomb robber shook his head.  "This is one strange library.  You have biting books and ones with chibi personalities… I wonder how this one would act at the mention of sugar?"  At that, the "chibi" book's eyes grew wider and the pages started to flap up and down.

The Pharaoh sighed.  "This is all too strange," he muttered, watching as Bakura tried to subdue the jumping book.

A while later, after being attacked by a rabid spell book with large claws and teeth, Bakura wandered out of the library with the excuse that there was somewhere else he needed to be.  Entering the great hall of the palace, the thief stopped in surprise at the commotion.  Everything was in chaos, and it all seemed to be centered on a messenger in the middle of the hall.

Wondering what he was getting himself into, Bakura pushed his way through the crowd.  _'Imagine, the King of Thieves in the middle of all this racket…  And we're supposed to be secretive…'_ He reached the messenger, who was babbling incessantly to the man beside him, who was looking completely lost.

"…andhe'sinGizaalreadythisisn'tgoodImustfindthePharaohdoesanyoneknowwhereheisthisisurgent!"  the man said breathlessly.  Bakura cleared his throat, and the messenger looked at him distractedly.  "Oh, hello.  Do you know where Pharaoh Yami is?  I must see him immediately.  This is very important."

"Does it have anything to do with Seth?"  Bakura asked calmly.  The man blinked, then nodded.

"Yes, of course it does, and I _must_ tell the Pharaoh!  He needs to know this."

"The Pharaoh's currently in the library," Bakura said, blocking the way as the messenger headed there.  "But he's busy and cannot be disturbed.  What is it you want to tell him?"

The man looked slightly baffled about how this strange white-haired man could be taking so much command of the situation.  "But I must tell the Pharaoh myself…"

"Yeah, well, you're going to tell me first!"  Bakura snapped, his brown eyes flashing.  The messenger recoiled slightly in surprise.

"Well, it's just that…  Seth is in Giza and is heading this way!  He's gotten very powerful, too, and has many more sorcerers than we originally thought!"

"So?"  Bakura asked.  "Does he have two hundred?  Three hundred?"

"Worse," the man breathed.  "More like five hundred!"

Bakura's eyes narrowed.  "This isn't good.  How long before he gets here?"

"He'll be here by dawn, four days from now."

The thief did some mental calculations.  "All right.  You go tell the Pharaoh about this."

"And what'll you be doing?" the messenger asked, forgetting that it wasn't his place to question someone from the palace.

Bakura didn't seem to notice, however.  "I'm getting Marik.  We might be able to delay them just long enough."  And with that, he dashed out the palace doors and into the noon sunshine.

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It was three days after the messenger arrived with his news about Seth, and Yami and Simon had been researching almost non-stop since the tidings had arrived.  They didn't trust anyone else to help; after all, very few people knew exactly what to look for.

Yami's activities were now constricted mainly to the library.  Research, eat while reading, research, solve a couple disputes while still in the library, research, take a quick nap while Simon wasn't looking…

The Pharaoh was in a fitful doze again.  He hadn't _meant_ to fall asleep, but he was just so tired…  He knew he ought to wake up and continue searching, but what was the use?  They had twenty-four hours before Seth arrived, and they were barely halfway through all the books in the library.  Besides, this dream was soo interesting…

They were in the great hall of his palace, him and Bakura and Marik.  Bakura was explaining, "And she came up to me and hit me on the head with a huge hammer before hugging me and saying she was sorry and that she thought I was Yami…"

Marik said, "But you don't look anything like Yami, ever since you got that new hairstyle…" Suddenly Bakura's hair was pink and purple and blue, and had a pair of poisonous-looking fangs coming out of it…

Bakura poked his hair.  "Like it?  I found the spell in one of the scrolls, it says this'll be permanent… there was also something about sheep in there…"

Marik became a sheep with wool the color of his hair.   "Like this?"

For no apparent reason, Seth came in, waltzing with Isis to some strange foreign music.  Yami stared at them for a moment.  "…what are you doing?"  Off to one side, Bakura and Marik suddenly began banging their heads to another, different kind of music, which looked very strange, considering Bakura's hair and that Marik was still a sheep.

"Dancing," Isis answered.  "We found the music in one of the books… you know, that one you sent to the Shadow Realm?"

Yami blinked.  "Books… I'm supposed to be researching ways to defeat Seth!  I want to seal the Shadow Games too, that'll help…"

As he rushed off towards the library, the former high priest called after him, "Just send an assassin or send me to the Shadow Realm or something!"

Yami was running along one of the hallways, running and running towards the door at one end, but it never seemed to get closer… rather, it was moving farther and farther away.  The door opened, revealing, not the library as he had expected, but a different room, torch-lit with walls made of clay… in the center of the room, a Shadow Game seemed to be taking place…  Yami strained to see who the duelists were, but at that moment the floor collapsed under him and he was falling, falling into an infinitely dark pit…

Images flashed before his eyes: Seth, with his Blue-Eyes poised for action and facing off against a Kaiser Dragon… an altar, surrounded by himself and two others, with priests chanting in the background… three boys, almost exact replicas of himself, Bakura, and Marik, standing before a portal to the Shadow Realm while a Leogun pushed its way through… Seth, sending bolts of black lightning streaking through a building, while the same three boys dodged them, aided by the three from his time… he was racing through the aisles of the library at top speed, not even pausing to catch his breath until he reached a row full of scrolls, where he swerved and ran to the center, panting… then the final image, an ancient scroll, the papyrus torn, the writing faded but legible, and two bronze handles at each end.  But the appearance was not what caught Yami's attention.  It was the feeling he got from it: the scroll radiated power and ancient magic with such force that the Pharaoh felt obliged to bow to it, for surely this was a thing of the gods.  Before he could read it, however, the image swirled and faded, leaving him falling into endless blackness again…

Yami awoke with a start; glancing out the window, he gasped in surprise as he saw the sun setting over the Nile River.  He had overslept; he hadn't much time to find what he wanted… then a new thought entered his head.  Why hadn't Simon woken him up?

The Pharaoh glanced across the table and stifled a grin.  Serious as the situation was, he couldn't help laughing when he saw Simon, his head on the table and snoring uproariously.  And to think, this man scolded him when he, the Pharaoh, was caught sleeping!  Yami shook his head and made a mental note to tease him about it later.  For now, he had to find a spell that would seal the Shadow Games, and hopefully help stop Seth.  He was sure he could do it, given enough time, but that was the one thing they lacked.  Judging by the position of the sun, he had perhaps ten hours to do search all the shelves.  Yami was sure that the scroll he saw held the answer to their problems, but one scroll in a huge library?  The chances of that happening were like finding a dropped needle in all the sands of Egypt.

Eight hours later, Yami was only five hundred rows from where he started.  Sighing, he sank onto the ground and rested his head in his hands.  At this rate, he'd _never_ find the scroll he needed, even if he woke up Simon.

What did he know about where to find that scroll?  Well, it was in the middle of an aisle, that much was obvious.  And it was in a row full of scrolls, but most rows had scrolls, along with the many magical books that the library held.

Jumping up suddenly, Yami hit his head against the nearest bookshelf, causing several books to fall out and scream.  Why hadn't he thought of it before?  The shelf he had seen had contained scrolls and only scrolls, and there were only two shelves like that in the library.  One was in the very front, close to the door, and it was for the cooks to use when they wanted new recipes or when Yami tired of the old ones.  The other…

The Pharaoh raced towards row one thousand three hundred twenty-five, ignoring the pain in his side as he ran.  He skidded to a halt when he found the aisle he wanted, panting as he walked quickly to the middle.  Yes, he was right, this was the row he remembered.  As a child, he'd loved it here; all the scrolls were different colors, and looked very interesting when piled together to form a pyramid.

Now where was that one scroll? Yami looked around and found the one flaw in his plan: the shelves were crammed full of scrolls, meaning he still had to search the entire row to find the one he needed.  And with only sixty minutes left, the chances were slim to none that he would find the right scroll before Seth arrived.  He only hoped that his allies would be able to hold the high priest off long enough for him to find the spell.

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Camped out ten miles from Giza, Bakura and Marik were keeping watch for Seth's army, knowing that he would be there in maybe fifteen minutes.  Already they could see dust on the horizon, proof of the many sorcerers that were coming their way.  Bakura sat up slowly, glanced at the huge cloud, and whistled quietly.

"Five hundred sorcerers?  Seems more like five thousand!" he exclaimed.  "Either that, or they're all riding Urabys!"

Marik shook his head.  "Great.  Just great.  Seems like the numbers have swollen to one thousand at least.  And just look at who's leading the charge."  In the very front of the army, the former high priest sat, rallying his troops from atop one of his Blue-Eyes White Dragons, which at that moment spotted them.  Screeching its battle cry, it flew faster, and the men behind raced to keep up with it.  The thunder of horses' hooves was audible even from this distance, and it was clear that the animals were being pushed to the limit.

Bakura rolled his eyes.  "Y'know, I wonder how they do it.  I mean, those horses must be brainwashed or something.  No animal in their right mind would follow a Blue-Eyes; the smart ones would run away as quickly as they could!"

Marik glanced at him.  "Humans are animals too, and just look where we are.  Right in their line of fire-and we're planning to fight them, too."

The tomb robber gave the man next to him a sadistic grin, pulling out his belt dagger and licking the blade expectantly.  "Ah, well, then we must not be in our right minds.  It's a good thing, too.  I'm looking forward to this fight.  Wanna bet on who can bring down the most sorcerers?  Double points for any of Seth's monsters."

The slave answered with an expectant grin of his own.  "You're on.  I'll try and take down, say, fifty before I die."

"That all?  I could probably kill seventy, no problem."

Marik had no time to answer, as the Priestess Isis joined them at that moment.  "So you're betting on who's the better fighter?  Men," she sighed.  The two others looked at each other and shrugged.  Isis continued, "And both of you - _try_ not to get yourselves killed.  The Pharaoh could use your help later on."

Bakura cast her a sideways glance.  "He actually admits he needs our help?"

Isis smiled slightly.  "Well, no, but it's obvious that that's what he feels."

Marik shook his head.  "Well, now I've seen it all.  Has he found a way to defeat Seth and seal the Games?"

"Unfortunately, no.  But I have a feeling that he will, soon enough, and he's going to need your help."

"Need our help?" Bakura asked.  "You think we'll give it to him?"

"Well, of course," answered Isis, amused.  "You know you'll die otherwise."

"We'll die anyway," the tomb robber muttered, but that was the end of the conversation.  All eyes, theirs and everyone else's in the camp, were focused forward on the approaching army.  They'd be here in roughly five minutes, but no one seemed to be making any last minute preparations.  Everything was ready.

Bakura leveled himself up briskly.  "Well then, time for business," he said, sounding slightly cheerful.  For some strange reason, it seemed to fit the moment.  "Remember, folks, if we're gonna go out, we're gonna go out with a bang."  Everyone else roared agreement, and Bakura continued, "Marik?  Any last words?"

"Yeah," breathed the slave, watching Seth closely.  One thousand meters and closing.  "If I actually survive this, remind me to bash your head into the ground for thinking I would die.  If you die, I'll never forgive you.  And if we both die… well, we can take each other on in the underworld."  Seven hundred meters.

"If Am'mit doesn't devour both your souls first," muttered Isis.

Bakura shot her a glare before addressing Marik.  "Very nice.  I'll be sure to remember that.  And if you die and I don't, I'll be sure to kill you."  Five hundred meters… Each member of their little party had their hands in their pockets, resting on the miniature stone slabs that were used to summon monsters.  Four hundred meters… The Blue-Eyes roared again and flew even faster.  Three hundred meters… Ah well, close enough.

"Here it comes!" roared Jou, one of Yami's closest friends.  The Pharaoh's supporters ran forward, led by Bakura, Marik, and Jou, yelling as they pulled out cards and summoned their best monsters, and the battle was joined.

Bakura fought his way through the fray, striking out at monsters and magicians alike with his belt daggers while following the trail of his Dark Necrophia.  The thrill of battle was upon him and he whooped out loud; he hadn't felt this good in a long time!  He spotted a Tri-Horned Dragon and thought briefly about using his Change of Heart card, but the thought was immediately dispelled as soon as it was brought down by Marik, who was yelling in triumph.  Bakura made his way over to the slave, yelling as he went.

"Hey Marik!  What'd you do that for?"

Marik barely spared him a glance before quickly slashing at the man who was trying to sneak up behind him.  "What do you think?  It was on the enemy's side!"

"Idiot!  I have a Change of Heart!"

"…oh.  Well, then, use it on the Blue-Eyes!"

Bakura could've slapped himself. Unfortunately, he was in the middle of a battle and that wasn't a smart idea.  As it was, he barely had the time to activate his Sword of Dark Destruction before a Crab Turtle attacked the Dark Necrophia.  His monster easily blocked the attack and sliced through the opposing beast-warrior with her newfound sword.  The tomb robber ignored all this, however, as he went looking for Seth.  Amazing how hard it was to find a specific person in this melee, even _if_ that person had a Blue-Eyes…  He caught sight of a large form and tensed up, only to realize that it was Jou's Red-Eyes Black Dragon.  His master was on his back, yelling at the top of his lungs and looking like he was having the time of his life.  Bakura shook his head and barely caught the high-pitched shriek over the clamor of battle.  There, to his left!  He turned quickly and finally spotted the familiar blue-white shape.

Now to get Seth's attention…  "Hey!  Corrupt high priest!  Seth!  BY RA, LOOK _OVER HERE_ ALREADY!"  Harder than it seemed.  Well then, he just had to turn to… more offensive… tactics.  "HEY SETH!  YOU'RE JUST A LITTLE BOTHERSOME PIECE OF SCUM!  AND YOUR BLUE-EYES IS… umm… wait a second… let me think of a good insult here…" Most of the sorcerers around him were looking scandalized, while Yami's supporters were cracking up.  The Dark Necrophia protected him from the more ambitious of his enemies while Bakura continued to think.  "Hmm… oh, got one!  YOUR BLUE-EYES IS SO WEAK A BABY _KURIBOH_ COULD BEAT IT!!!!!"

_That_ got Seth's attention.  No one insulted his Blue-Eyes, ever.  Not to mention the man had a great dislike for the cute little exploding fuzzballs.  And to think that impudent white-haired freak thought they were stronger than his mighty dragons?  He would pay dearly for ever messing with _this_ priest of Set!  He turned toward Bakura, the dragon as eager as he to teach the tomb robber a lesson.

Bakura was grinning maniacally, having finally succeeded in attracting Seth's attention.  If he survived this, he would _definitely_ treasure this moment forever.  He threaded his way through the crowd, ignoring the many fights he was interrupting.  Just a little closer… The thief suddenly found himself right in front of Seth, the priest's cold blue eyes glaring down at him.

"Did I just hear you insult my dragon?" he asked Bakura in a low, menacing growl.  The Blue-Eyes backed up his master's statement with a growl of his own.  The tomb robber gulped.  The dragon was a LOT bigger up close.  He backed up a few paces out of instinct.

Seth gave him a maniacal grin.  "Not so tough now, are you, freak?  Call THIS weak!  Blue-Eyes White Dragon!  White Lightning Attack!"

Bakura regained his composure and his wits just in time to whip a card out of his deck.  Praying fervently to all the gods that would listen that it was the card he wanted, he activated its effect.  "Change of Heart!"  To his everlasting relief, a half-demon-half-angel came out of the stone and took over the Blue-Eyes.  _'I will NEVER, EVER insult the gods again!_'  Bakura thought, relieved, watching as his magic card took effect.  The dragon immediately reared back, causing its former master to fall off, and flew over to stand next to Bakura, its rage now directed at the priest.  Seth had fallen off the monster to land rather ignominiously in the dirt, quickly standing up and glancing around to see if anyone had seen him.  Fortunately for the humiliated priest, no one had seen him fall except for a certain tomb robber, who was doubled over in laughter.  If it had been a few millennia later, Bakura would have yelled, "Kodak moment!"  Unfortunately for him, and luckily for all the Seto fangirls, cameras wouldn't be invented for 4,824 years.  So the tomb robber had to store the image away in his memory for later blackmail (if it ever came to that).

Bakura thought the odds were very nicely in his favor, considering the huge dragon was now on his side.  However, there was one fact he had overlooked.

Eyes flaming with anger, Seth pulled two more cards out of his deck and summoned them.  "Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"

The thief's laughter stopped almost immediately as he stared up at the two new monsters he was facing, both glaring at him.  Uh oh.  This was bad.  VERY bad.  And standing between the dragons, arms folded across his chest, was a very angry former high priest.

"You know what they say," Seth hissed.  "Two is always better than one-that is, unless they're the predators and you are the prey!"

As the two Blue-Eyes advanced upon him, Bakura hoped that the god of luck was on his side, whoever that was.  He could never remember all of them.  But if he died… The man prayed fervently that Isis was wrong and that Osiris would have pity on him.  He had no wish to meet Am'mit on this day.

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Hopeless.  That's what this was: hopeless.  There was absolutely no way he would find the right scroll in time.  Yami leaned back against a shelf and sighed.  Yup, this was impossible.  He closed his eyes, hoping to catch a bit more rest before the former high priest attacked. 

Immediately, an image of Anzu filled his mind.  The girl glared at him accusingly.  "What, giving up already, Yami?  I thought you had more guts than to let that traitor win!"

"But Anzu-"

"No buts!  You're just going to give up this easily?  The fight's barely started!"

"There's no _way_ I can find the right scroll!  I've already tried everything I could think of, and it _still_ didn't work!"

The girl's look softened.  "Yami, I know you can do it.  So many lives are riding on whether you can do this or not.  You _have_ to find the right scroll in time!"

"But it's impossible!  There must be a _million_ scrolls on these two shelves alone!  How am I ever going to find the right one?"

Anzu grasped his hands in her own.  "I don't know, but I'm sure you can, my Pharaoh.  Just think of it as a game.  You have to find the right scroll before time runs out.  You can do this; you're the King of Games!"

_'Anzu's right,'_ Yami thought to himself.  _'I just have to view this as a game, and the answer will come to me.  I'm not the King of Games for nothing.  It's more than just a fancy title; I earned it, and I have to prove I'm worthy of it!'_

The Pharaoh opened his eyes, which were suddenly full of determination.  He moved to the center of the aisle, ignoring the pre-dawn light that was starting to fill the library.  _'All right, concentrate.  I'm sure I can think of something.  I mean, power that ancient is the only way to seal away the Shadow Games… Power!  That's it!  That scroll was all but glowing with power.  So if I concentrate hard enough, I should be able to find it!'_

Again, Yami closed his eyes, but this time to focus all his senses.  Searching for that power… it was around here somewhere.  Come on… he could do this… he HAD to do this.

There!  Eyes still closed, he turned towards the source of the power and started walking toward it.  Straight ahead…  He opened his eyes, this time in triumph, and noticed the scroll.  It was on the second shelf from the top, seemingly ordinary, but he could tell that it was the one he wanted from the bronze handles and aged papyrus.  He'd found the scroll, but there was no ladder in sight.  Oh well, this was for the good of the kingdom.  Taking a deep breath, Yami jumped as high as he could onto the shelves, then scaled them with all the grace of a monkey.  He knocked a few scrolls out of place, but the master librarian would just have to deal with him later.  For the moment, the Pharaoh was pleased to know he hadn't lost his old talent.  As a child, he'd always skip classes and run to the library to hide in the shelves, and his old teachers had never noticed the pair of large violet eyes staring down at them.

Yami climbed onto the next shelf and didn't notice the sound of papyrus crunching under his feet as he stared at the prize he had worked so hard to obtain.  The scroll was right in front of him, handles gleaming ever so slightly in the dim light.  He reached out to grab it, and barely had time to snatch it from its shelf before he lost his balance and crashed to the floor, landing hard on his back.

"Oof…" Yami lay there winded for a few seconds, then sprang up, all pain forgotten as he stared at the scroll in his hands.  At last… the answer lay in this one roll of papyrus.  Hands trembling slightly, the Pharaoh finally unrolled the ancient scroll and began to read the faded hieroglyphs marking its length.

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"Fool," sneered Seth.  "You must have had a death wish to insult my Blue-Eyes.  Either that, or the Pharaoh's started hiring complete dimwits!"  Bakura made no reply, even though he knew for a fact that his IQ was more than a few points above Seth's.  He was transfixed by the fearsome look in the eyes of the dragons before him.  Seth raised his hand.  "Now… stare into the face of death!  Today you will go to Osiris!"

Bakura found his wits and his tongue long enough to retort, "Death's a lot uglier than I originally thought!" He made sure to stare meaningfully at the priest while making this statement.

Seth growled in annoyance.  "Now, Blue-Eyes White Dragons!  White Lightning attack!"

The tomb robber gulped slightly.  _'Ah well, may as well go out in a flash of glory…'_  "Blue-Eyes!  Dark Necrophia!  Attack!"

All four of the attacks collided right in the middle, creating a huge explosion.  Bakura was blasted backwards off his feet, as was the former high priest.  When the dust cleared, all that was left was one of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons and Bakura's Dark Necrophia, who appeared to be having a glaring contest in the middle of a gigantic crater, fifty yards in radius.  Bakura looked around for the two other Blue-Eyes, but they were nowhere to be seen.  Apparently, they had destroyed each other with the force of the blast.

Seth looked more than a little ticked off to have two of his prized dragons sent to the Graveyard.  However, he still had the upper hand, and he glared at Bakura.  "Hmm… now where we?  I believe my dragon was about to disintegrate you."

Bakura bit his lip, sizing up the situation.  They were back to square one; the priest had one Blue-Eyes, he had the Dark Necrophia.  Only difference was, Seth was now royally infuriated, and he was short one Change of Heart.  Well, the best thing to do now was…

The thief gasped, his widened eyes staring at something behind Seth.  Falling for the oldest trick in the book, the priest turned to see what had caught Bakura's attention.  While Seth wasn't looking, Bakura turned tail and bolted.

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The ancient hieroglyphs seemed to glow slightly with their own light.  Yami stared at them for a second before reading them aloud.

" 'The Scroll of Millennia, a record of ancient history.

" 'Herein lie the secret spells of our fathers, the most powerful and ancient enchantments known to the Egyptians.  With this scroll lies the power to tip the balance of the universe, whether for good or for evil.  Be forewarned, reader and mage, this holds the power to destroy entire cities and make barren the mightiest empire.  Use this power wisely and responsibly; if used carelessly, it will devour you, mind and soul.' "

The Pharaoh shivered at these words.  He had no wish to be devoured, but this scroll held the answers he needed.  There was no other way.  And so he read on, fearing the power of the spells he discovered.

He scanned quickly through the five-foot scroll, searching for the one spell to seal the Shadow Games.  He couldn't help noticing the other spells, however, and shuddered as he came across curses that would destroy everything in a hundred-mile radius, cause multiple sandstorms that lasted for months, and that would ensure that your enemies died slow and painful deaths, being eaten by a monster similar to Am'mit.

It was near the end of the scroll that Yami finally found the enchantment he wanted.  He skimmed through it quickly, frowning.  Many of the components would be difficult to find, but hardest of all would be the four sacrifices needed to complete the ceremony.  Where would he find four people willing to help him in this?

"What's that you've got there?" a voice asked from behind Yami.  The Pharaoh nearly fell over, and turned around to see that his advisor was finally awake.  Simon stood there, blinking sleep out of his eyes and looking totally unaware that he had just interrupted a climatic moment.

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Marik sighed, holding his bleeding shoulder while glancing around at the mass destruction that was their battlefield.  They'd succeeded in their mission.  Their plan had been to distract Seth, and it had most certainly worked.  They'd bought the Pharaoh maybe an extra hour or two of time.

The plan had only been to delay the priest, not to win.

Picking his way through the bodies of friend and foe alike, Bakura joined Marik at the center of the field, disgustedly shaking the blood off his boots.  The tomb robber took a quick look around and whistled.  "We certainly leveled this place.  At least the Pharaoh has the extra time he wanted… but did you count how many casualties we have?"

Marik shook his head.  "Not yet, though I'm sure there's many.  We probably suffered more losses than Seth."

Bakura nodded absentmindedly, counting quietly to himself.  He shook his head.  "That's three hundred of theirs down.  Hey!  Isis!  You done counting yet?"

The woman glared at him, obviously annoyed with the thief.  "Yes, no thanks to you.  We lost eight hundred people."

Bakura shook his tangled white hair out of his face.  He was probably the only one unhurt in the entire battle.  "Eight hundred?  That's not good.  They lost five hundred less than we did.  Anyone that the great Pharaoh Yami will be seriously annoyed about losing?"

Isis hesitated.  "Well… no.  Not yet, anyway."

Marik raised an eyebrow.  "Not yet?  What's that supposed to mean?"

The priestess sighed and stared at the ground, not answering for a long while.  Finally she said, "Follow me."

She led them over to the westernmost end of the battlefield, carefully stepping around the bodies and puddles of blood.  Marik did the same, but Bakura would occasionally step on a sorcerer's face, and it didn't seem to be an accident.  The bloodstained sand suddenly came to an end three hundred meters from where they had started, and kneeling on the fringe was a man about Yami's age.

Honda looked up as the three approached, a desperate look on his face.  He waved away the healer that was trying to tend to his bleeding temple and beckoned Isis, Bakura, and Marik closer.  Offended, the healer moved away, giving Bakura and Marik a clear view of the scene before them.

Marik gasped slightly at the sight of the crater.  Bakura merely raised an eyebrow, not as impressed.  After all, this wasn't as big as the one he had created.  Still, the depression was fully twenty yards in radius, and lying in the middle of it, next to Honda, was the figure of a blond-haired man.

The two dropped onto their knees next to Jou, whose eyes were closed and seemed to be having a hard time breathing.  A deep foot-long gash ran across his chest, and it was bleeding profusely.  Honda was trying his hardest to stop it, to no avail.  Judging from the sight of the wound, it was most probably fatal.  Brows knitted in worry, Bakura asked gently, "Jou?"

His eyes opened slowly, and he gazed blearily at the four people above him.  "Bakura… Marik… you're here."  The words were slow and labored, and he practically had to force them out of his mouth.  "They were… too strong.  I tried… to stop him… I really did."

"Stop who?" Marik asked quietly.  With a great bit of effort, Jou raised one hand to touch the slash across his chest, but said nothing.  Bakura growled quietly.  If he ever met the man that did that…

Honda put more pressure on the wound, and Jou winced.  With a slightly distressed note in his voice, the man said, "You'll be fine, Jou, really you will.  Yami'll really want to hear everything about this… how you stopped at least thirty by yourself…"

Jou shook his head slowly.  "Sorry, Honda… you'll have to… tell him about this… yourself."

Isis bit her lip.  "Don't say that, Jou."

"Hey… it's true…" Jou's eyes focused for a moment on Bakura, and a weak smile crossed his lips.  "Bakura… we really did… go out… with a bang… just like I promised."

Bakura nodded, holding back the tears that were threatening to fill his eyes.  "Yeah, Jou, you did… you really did."

The man managed one last smile before his eyes blurred and the light in them faded.  His breathing stopped, and Marik leaned over to close the brown eyes one last time.  He joined Bakura, who was staring the other way, out across the desert towards Memphis, and the last of the dust clouds created by Seth's men were filling the horizon.  The tomb robber swallowed hard before turning to Marik, his eyes glittering with tears.  With a great effort, he said, "The Pharoah'll want a full report on the battle… the statistics and… the list of casualties."  He dropped his head at the last statement.

Marik nodded, also swallowing the lump in his throat.  "Yeah… we'd better get going if we want to get there before Seth."

Bakura nodded mutely in return, and they set out for Memphis, leaving behind them the final memories of Jou's last stand.

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" 'Do you wish to lock away

The games of old that all play?

Shadow Games of mystery

Played through all of history?

Sacrifices four you need

To complete this massive deed.

First soul, hatred borne of old

Second has a love of gold.

Third knows violence, born a slave

Tragedy first's hatred gave

To fourth, he who casts this spell

Noblest, he'll make all well.

Dragon's blood of greatest might

Mixed with sand of Egypt's night

Darkness portal in noon sun

A Shadow Game, quickly won

Mixture placed on highest dune

Invoke the most ancient rune

Through the portal lies your fate

But beware a later date

Five millennia shall pass

Don't do anything too rash

Shadow Games will be unlocked

Opportunity will knock

All four souls will be set free

But the first one holds the key

Beaten by the three, they could

Seal the Realm away for good.' "

Simon sweatdropped slightly at hearing the rhyme.  "That's it?  That's the great and powerful spell?  Sounds more like a riddle to me."

Yami nodded slowly.  "I think it kind of is-a riddle that describes what is needed for this."

His advisor stared at the scroll doubtfully.  "Really?  It kind of sounds like a prophecy.  Maybe this spell was meant to be performed in this time by these people."

Yami said thoughtfully, "Maybe.  But who would those people be?"  He shook his head, trying to understand what it meant.  Finally he said, "We might as well figure it out line by line.  All right…" he took a deep breath and started scanning the scroll yet again.  "Well… it's obvious that we need four sacrifices.  The first one hates the fourth… the second loves gold…"

"Ha, with the greed most nobles have these days, that could be almost anybody." Simon snorted.  When he saw the Pharaoh glaring at him, he waved and said, "Carry on."

" 'Third knows violence, born a slave…' That's easy to figure out, but there are thousands of slaves in Egypt… and the fourth is the spell caster, and apparently the nicest out of the four.  Still, that could be anyone."

"What about the next two lines?" Simon suggested.  " 'Dragon's blood of greatest might, mixed with sand of Egypt's night.'  Well, I can't think of any real dragons, much less dragon's blood."

Yami stared hard at the scroll.  "No, neither can I.  But the sand… it can't be just any sand.  That's too obvious, too easy…"

"Wait a minute," Simon said suddenly.  "Maybe they mean the sand of Khon?"

"Maybe," Yami replied.  "There's only one way to find out.  The only question is if Jou, Bakura, and Marik were able to buy enough time for us to get there."

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It was anyone's guess why the great army of Seth had stopped.  It may have been that they were throwing a party to celebrate the defeat of Yami's sorcerers.  It may have been that they were lost.  Most likely, it was that Seth's subordinates had managed to beg the former High Priest for a rest so they could lick their wounds.  Whatever the reason, it worked out very well for Bakura and Marik.

The two sat crouched about a hundred yards away behind a sand dune, conversing in low whispers.  Seth's army had overtaken them about ten minutes ago, and they had barely been able to keep up.  Now they were catching their breaths as they sat hidden, and Bakura, as usual, was complaining.

"To think, it took us half an hour to get here, while they only took about twenty minutes, and us running at full speed, too!  At this rate, we'll never make it to Memphis before them!"

"Yeah, I know," Marik grumbled.  "You know, we could probably go a lot faster if you had a flying Duel Monster or something useful instead of all those zombies of yours…"

"Marik.  Shut.  Up.  I don't see YOU with any useful monsters.  And technically, they're not zombies, they're fiends."

"And technically, Seth will have fully destroyed Memphis two hours before we get there.  So how about you stop arguing about Duel Monsters and start thinking up something useful?"

"I don't see YOU coming up with any brilliant ideas, Mr. Mastermind," Bakura muttered.  Marik made no response, and the next five minutes were completely silent between them.

After a while, something caught Marik's eye and he focused his full attention on it.   The blond elbowed Bakura in the ribs.  "Hey, look over there."

Bakura glanced in the direction Marik was indicating and stifled a yawn.  "They're horses.  So what?"

Marik grinned at his friend, a mischievous glint in his eye.  "That's all the genius thief has to say?"

An identical grin spread over Bakura's face.  "Right.  That's all the King of Thieves has to say."  He stood up slowly, creeping as close as he could to the camp without being seen.  Marik followed in his shadow, less skillful at hiding among the dunes.

They didn't have long to wait.  Within minutes, a careless soldier wandered by their hiding place, yawning sleepily as he sought a good place for a short nap.  Bakura waited until he was very close until he pounced, slapping a hand over the man's mouth and dragging him back to their hiding place in the sands.  Marik delivered a quick punch and the man slumped over, unconscious.

"All right then," the tomb robber breathed, stripping the man of his uniform and donning it quickly.  "I'll untie two of the horses and move to the eastern edge of the camp.  You wait for me there, and hopefully we can make a clean getaway."

"Hopefully," Marik repeated.  Reaching into a pocket, he drew out a piece of cloth and handed it to Bakura.

The thief fingered it curiously.  "What's this for?"

"To cover your hair.  The last time I checked, exactly one person in all of Egypt had pure white hair-one person that was under the age of twenty, that is."  Marik allowed himself a smirk as Bakura scowled at him before tying the cloth on and walking casually towards the edge of the camp.  The slave slipped along behind the dunes until he reached one close to that end of the camp.

Picking out two stallions, a chestnut and a black one, Bakura soothed them for a few seconds before quietly untying them from the poles.  Allowing himself a small grin for his victory, he walked them to the edge of the camp.  Marik came out from behind the closest dune, walking up to the black and quickly mounting.  Bakura did the same with the chestnut.

As they casually walked the horses out of the camp, Marik muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "That went well." Bakura nodded in silent agreement, but they had spoken too soon.  Their moment of quiet celebration was interrupted by a loud voice, obviously one of authority.

"Hey, you two!  What do you think you're doing?"

Both of them whirled around quickly in the saddles to face the speaker, the cloth around Bakura's hair coming loose as he did.  It floated slowly to the ground, and his white hair was revealed for all of Seth's army to see.

The soldier stared at Bakura in surprise for a moment before Seth's voice cut through his thoughts.  "That's the one that tried to take control of my Blue-Eyes!  Get him!"

Marik swore fervently as he and Bakura kicked their horses to gallop as fast as they could out of there.  A few of the soldiers tried to give chase, but Bakura had a good eye for horses and had picked well.  The two were long gone in a cloud of dust by the time the entire army was ready to move, and the pursuers were lost soon after.  As soon as they were a good ten miles away from the campsite, they slowed their horses to a trot, looked at each other, and heaved a collective sigh of relief.

"That's one thing I never want to do again," Bakura remarked.  This time, it was Marik's turn to nod his agreement.

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Khon, the Egyptian god of the moon.  The son of Amon, god of the hidden sun.  The full moon was when his powers were at their fullest, and they were lucky that tonight was one of those nights.

Yami stopped in amazement at the scene before him.  The sand of Khon was half-legend, one of the tales that the old midwives always claimed to be true, but which everyone else scoffed at.  According to ancient myth, it was located south of Memphis, but few people had ever actually been there.  Until now.

"Is that it?" Simon muttered in quiet awe.  "That IS it… right?"

"I suppose so," Yami answered.  "There's nothing else it could be, right?"

The humans were standing on top of the northernmost dune, one of four that surrounded the small depression on all sides.  Unlike the rest of the desert around it, the sand in the middle of the depression was pure silver, glinting slightly in the moonlight.  It almost seemed to reflect the moon-but that was impossible.  It was just sand.

Taking a deep breath, Yami slid down the side of the dune, stopping himself just before his feet hit the silver sand.  He reached out to touch the sand, hesitating slightly above the pool.  In that instant, a figure materialized in front of him, toes barely skimming the sand.  The Pharaoh glanced up and his eyes widened in surprise and fear as he realized that he stared into the face of a god.

Yami bowed down so far that his nose touched the sand, not noticing the amused grin spreading across the god's face.  "My Lord Khon… I didn't know you'd be here.  I am honored by your presence."  A humble tone of voice was not a Pharaoh was required to use very often, but then again, most Pharaohs never met a god.

"Get up, Pharaoh Yami," Khon said, still sounding amused.  "You come to this place which bears my name, and yet you still do not expect to see me?  Stand, I do not mind, for I believe you have something to ask of me."

Somewhat sheepishly, Yami raised his head, then stood upright, fully registering the god's appearance for the first time.  Khon's skin was the silver of a full moon, his waist-long hair the navy blue of a midnight sky.  He was dressed in long robes of black and was fully sixteen feet tall, something that Yami resented in the small part of his mind that was not still in awe of the god of the moon.  But what caught the Pharaoh's attention the most were the eyes: eyes that were exactly the same shade as the sand that the god hovered over.

"Well then, young mortal," Khon began, a slight smile on his face.  "What is it you wanted to request from me?"

Yami stammered slightly, trying to get the next sentence out without letting a blush creep to his cheeks.  He'd completely forgotten about what they had come here for, but luckily, the silver pool caught his attention and he remembered.  "The sand of this place, my lord.  We require it for a spell that we must perform for the good of the kingdom."

"Are you sure you truly wish to seal away the Games of Darkness, Pharaoh?"

Yami's eyes widened in surprise before he realized, _'Of course!  The gods know everything about the mortal realm.  Why shouldn't they know about this quest?'_  Aloud, he said gravely, "Yes, I do."

"You do realize there is much more at stake here than the possibility that Seth will conquer Egypt, don't you?" Yami nodded in reply, although he actually had no idea what the god was talking about.  Khon's smile grew wider.  "Don't worry if you don't understand now.  You'll find out soon… or maybe not.  The lives of you humans are so short."  When Yami sent him a puzzled glance, Khon waved it away.  "Never mind.  Just take the sand, if you truly want it."  With that, he started to disappear, dissolving from the feet upwards into light blue mist.  Within seconds, the god had disappeared entirely.

Yami stood there silently for a few minutes before hesitantly reaching down and scooping up the sand.  Surprisingly, it didn't have the texture of water, like he had expected, nor did it feel like real sand.  Instead, it was soft and felt like grains of water solidified-either that, or sand where all the rough edges had been taken out.  Pulling out a bag, he filled it with the sand and climbed back up the dune, sliding a little.  He reached the top to find Simon and the guards lounging around on the sand.  Upon spotting the Pharaoh, Simon raised a questioning eyebrow.

"What took you so long, Pharaoh Yami?" he asked.  "Surely it can't take half an hour to get some sand."

Yami blinked in surprise.  "You mean you didn't see him?"

"See who?" Simon questioned.  "All I saw was you bowing to thin air and talking to yourself."

"Funny, I thought his voice could've been heard for at least five miles in every direction," Yami muttered, but he suddenly smiled as he remembered something his mother had once told him.  _'Yami, the gods appear to who they will, but only to those chosen by them.  If you ever meet one before your journey to the afterlife, it means you are destined for great things.'_ The Pharaoh smirked.  "No wonder you couldn't see him or hear him.  You, my friend, are most definitely NOT destined for greatness."

"What are you talking about?" Simon demanded.  Yami just grinned in response.

"Come, we must go to Memphis to prepare for the ritual.  I'd also like to get a report of the battle from Bakura and Marik before Seth gets there."  He jogged towards the horses, mounting his own, and Simon and the guards quickly followed.  They rode north once again, Simon still questioning Yami about his earlier statement, with the Pharaoh giving only cryptic answers.  In the distance, the first rays of the sun were starting to peek over the horizon.

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Bakura stood in front of the main gate to the palace, tapping his foot impatiently.  Finally he burst out, "Where is that Pharaoh?  He should have been here an hour ago!"

Beside him, Marik yawned lazily.  "Maybe he's late because he thinks we delayed Seth long enough for him to take all the time in the world."

"Or maybe," a voice behind them interrupted, "he's here already, and just didn't go through the main gate and didn't find you in the great hall, where you agreed to meet."  Marik and Bakura turned around to find Yami standing there, arms crossed and looking distinctly annoyed.

"Pharaoh Yami.  About time." Bakura grumbled.  Yami shot him a glare before beckoning the other two to follow him.

"So what exactly do you need to talk to us about that's so important?" Marik questioned.

Yami sighed.  "We've found a spell that will work to seal away the Games for the time being.  Unfortunately…" Here he paused, obviously not wanting to voice what was on his mind.  "…I'll need your help figuring out what it means."

Bakura and Marik glanced at each other.  "The Pharaoh's actually asking for our help!  The world will end!"

Yami snorted at this, but made no reply.  "So how did the battle go?"

"Do you really have to ask?  Of COURSE we won, considering they had about twice as many fighters as we did.  Of COURSE we defeated Seth, Blue-Eyes White Dragons and all.  Well duh, Pharaoh, we lost.  What, did you really expect us to win?" Marik said sarcastically.

"No, not really, unless the god of luck was on our side today," Yami replied.  "Did we lose anyone important?"

Bakura bit his lip.  It was just a simple question, but still… luckily, they were spared the agony of answering it, as they entered the great hall at that moment.  "How about we discuss this later, Yami?"

Yami looked slightly thrown off at being called by his name, without the customary "Morning and Evening Star, Son of the Gods" stuff in there, or even the title "Pharaoh."  He had no time to think on this, however, as he led them to a table near the far wall where the kingdom's best scholars were pondering over the puzzle the Scroll of Millennia presented.  They cleared a path as he approached, Bakura and Marik following closely.  Ignoring the protests of those who were studying it, Yami grabbed the scroll and retreated to a small study off the main hall.  He read it aloud as Marik and Bakura leaned over his shoulders to see the scroll.

When he had finished, Bakura and Marik looked at each other, sighed, and shook their heads.  "Really, Pharaoh," Bakura began, "You said it sounded like a prophecy, and you have yet to figure out who these people are.  Read it over again and tell me if you know who they are then." Yami did so and shook his head.  Bakura sighed again.  "Hopeless."

"What is it that I'm supposed to see?" Yami asked, completely lost.  Marik rolled his eyes and picked up the scroll.

"Okay then, Pharaoh, listen closely.  I'll speak slowly so as not to lose you." Yami raised his eyes to the heavens as if to ask, "What did I do to deserve this?"  Not noticing, Marik continued, "Look at the lines.  The first person we can't figure out right now, but the second has a love of gold.  Who else fits that description better than our very own King of Thieves?" Yami looked at Bakura to see his reaction, and the white-haired tomb robber smiled and waved cheerily.

"All right, I get that part.  What about the next line?"

" 'Third knows violence, born a slave.'  You DO know Marik's past, don't you?" Bakura asked.  This time, Yami glanced at Marik, who stared back, looking bored.

"So that's two people… what about the fourth?"

"That's easy.  It's you, Yami."

"WHAAAT??"  Yami glanced at the scroll.  "What makes you think that?"

Marik looked slightly surprised at the Pharaoh's reaction.  "Well, you wouldn't trust anyone else to perform this spell, would you?"

Yami blinked.  "No, I guess not… but what about the part about a tragedy?"

Marik looked at Bakura.  "I don't want to tell him. At least, not right now."

"Neither do I.  We'll tell him later." Yami had a strong feeling that they were hiding something from him, but it couldn't be that important, and he didn't want to press it.  After all, they had something more important to do.

"Well then, this brings us back to person number one.  Who is it that hates me?" Yami noticed both tomb robber and slave staring at him in utter disbelief.  He raised an eyebrow.  "What?"

"How DENSE can you GET?" Bakura asked, sounding completely amazed.

Marik shook his head.  "I don't think I want to know."

"What is it?" Yami asked, confused.

Bakura sighed and patted Yami's spikes, something that he hated.  "We'll let you figure it out, little Pharaoh.  In the meantime, how about we start preparing for the spell?"

"All right," Yami said slowly.  " 'Dragon's blood of greatest might'… maybe we could borrow Jou's Red-Eyes?  Oh wait, he'd never let us use it…" He didn't notice the look that passed between Marik and Bakura.

"Well," Marik said, carefully controlling his voice so his emotion didn't show, "I don't think we could use a Red-Eyes, since it has to be of 'greatest might'…"

"But the greatest dragon is a Blue-Eyes," Yami mused.  "How are we ever going to get blood from one?"  He didn't notice his two companions facefault behind him.

Bakura opened his mouth to scream the answer at the Pharaoh, but Marik slapped a hand over his mouth.  "Hush," he whispered.  "Let's see how long it takes him to figure this out."

"We'll be here for years, then," the King of Thieves muttered in reply, but this time, he didn't tell Yami the obvious.

Not noticing Bakura and Marik, Yami continued reading the spell.  "Hmm.. the sand we already have, and the highest dune is obvious.  The most ancient rune, we already know… so I guess that's it, except for the dragon's blood and the first sacrifice."

"Well then, let's go prepare for the Shadow Games, shall we?" Bakura said briskly.

It was at that moment that Simon burst in.  "Pharaoh Yami!  Seth will be here in about half an hour!"

"Not a moment too soon," Marik noted.  "Let's ready the temple, shall we?"

Yami nodded in agreement, and the three walked outside, heading for the Temple of Ra in preparation for the final battle against Seth.

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Seth stood before the great gates that marked the western entrance into Memphis.  His face was completely expressionless as he stared up at the fifty-foot monoliths.  Finally, he sighed and turned to the man beside him, whose stony face showed nothing of what he was feeling.  "Why don't they open the blasted gates?  Haven't they noticed we're here?  All this waiting is doing nothing for my temper.  What do you suggest?"

The red-haired man shrugged, his face still completely unreadable.  "I don't know.  As to what I suggest… why don't you just get your dragon to tear them down?  Ra knows we could kill quite a few civilians if they fall inward."

A sadistic grin spread over the former priest's face.  "I don't want to destroy the city, since it will soon be mine anyway.  But I like the way you think, and I may be forced to if they don't allow us in soon…" It was at that exact moment that the gates open with a groan, two of Yami's messengers pulling it open.  Seth's smile grew wider.  "Well, well, it seems that they are finally ready for us."  As he walked in, followed closely by his second-in-command, he said over his shoulder, "By the way, Zake, you know full well that I don't believe in any gods other than Set."

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The Pharaoh was sitting on a throne as they entered the main room of the temple, Bakura and Marik standing near the right wall, where the defenders would be fighting.  Seth came in through the left, smiling falsely as he saw the line of sorcerers ready to face him and his army.  Taking their positions on the left side, Seth strode forward to where the dueling arena was, pulling them out of his pocket as he walked.  He turned expectantly to the other side, waiting for his challenger to step forward.  Yami's supporters, however, seemed to be waiting for their Pharaoh's cue.  Grudgingly, the former high priest looked in that direction too, and cold blue eyes met violet for a split second before Yami broke his gaze.  Looking over those assembled to duel, Yami beckoned one forward.  The man nodded and took his place on the other side of the arena.

The rules were simple.  Your monsters were brought to life by the mages chanting the spells behind you.  You had forty mages; your entire game relied on them.  Each one represented one hundred Life Points, and they were playing by tribute rules.  That much was obvious: even a fool knew to do that when facing the power of Seth and his three mighty Blue-Eyes White Dragons.

The forty sorcerers of Seth's opponent stepped forward.  They were all lesser priests, willing to die or even be sent to the Shadow Realm in the service of their pharaoh.  The priest of Set snorted.  Fools.  All of them.  Barely glancing behind him, Seth beckoned forty of his own people forward.  They came silently.  Of course, they were all certain that Seth would win.  They wouldn't be doing this any other way.  Off to the side, Zake stood watching the whole scene, ready to kill any cowards who tried to make a run for it.

Sneering slightly at the man across from him, Seth shuffled the stone tablets and quickly drew five.  They grew in size before him until they were fully six feet tall, and his opponent did the same.  The player's decks floated quietly before them as the chanting started slowly, and the duelists glared at each other over the arena.  Yami was the one who ended the uneasy silence between the two competitors.  "Begin."

The staring contest was broken off with that word.  "DUEL!"

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It was halfway into the game, and Bakura had quickly lost interest in the battle going on before him.  He surveyed the enemy, his eyes landing on Zake, who was watching the game and occasionally sparing a glance toward the human "life point counters."  The tomb robber snorted derisively as the red-haired man quickly cut down a sorcerer who was trying to sneak unobtrusively through the door.  He whispered to Marik, "So that's Seth's second-in-command?  Looks like a total wimp to me."

Marik's eyes didn't leave the duel for a second.  "Quiet.  Don't you have better things to do?  This is one of the fiercest duels I've ever seen!"

Bakura glanced toward the game, where Yami's sorcerer had just summoned a Kaiser Dragon.  "This is what you call fierce?  I've seen tougher streetfights between ten-year-olds."

The slave made a witty retort, but Bakura's attention had already been drawn away.  He saw two men approach Zake, and the taller drew out a small pendant from beneath the neck of his robes.  Looking at it, Seth's second nodded, and the two men slipped past him and out the door.

Marik had noticed it too, but unlike Bakura, he hadn't caught a glimpse of what exactly the object was.  He nudged the tomb robber in the ribs.  "Hey, where d'ya think they're going?"

His eyes narrowed, Bakura drew one of his belt daggers and gripped the handle tightly.  He stared fixedly at the point where the two had exited.  "I don't know, but I'm willing to find out."

The slave blinked in surprise.  "Aren't you going to watch the duel?"

"No," Bakura hissed angrily.  "This is more important.  MUCH more important."  With that, the King of Thieves walked unnoticed past the guards and through a door facing north, the same direction in which the two men had gone in.

Pausing for a second to stare after him, Marik shrugged and turned back to the duel.  "Whatever you want, Bakura," he muttered, not fully understanding why the white-haired man had left.  After all, unlike Bakura, he hadn't noticed the pendant of a black dragon that hung around the enemy soldier's neck.

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Yami saw Bakura leaving and wondered why for a very brief moment, but he had no time to dwell on the matter as Seth's monster was destroyed by the Kaiser Dragon, taking out a good deal of Life Points.  Eight sorcerers were instantly vaporized by the resulting lightning, and the rest hesitated in their chants until Seth shot all of them a death glare.  Drawing his next card, the priest of Set scowled and played it in defense mode, also setting one card face-down.  "Your turn."

Yami's sorcerer drew confidently, smirking at the card he had drawn.  "One card face-down as well, and I'll summon Blackland Fire Dragon, in attack mode!"  The dark dragon appeared before him, roaring out its battle cry and making Yami wince.  "Blackland Fire Dragon, attack the face-down monster!"  The hidden La Jinn cried out as it was destroyed by the black fire coming from the dragon.  "Now, Kaiser Dragon!  Attack his Life Points directly!"  The dragon of light complied, wiping out a good twenty-three opposing mages in no time at all.  Seth growled as he was reduced to only 900 Life Points, and Yami smiled slightly.  With a little luck, they just might win without the help of the King of Games.  He turned his full attention to the duel, already having forgotten Bakura's mysterious disappearance.

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Meanwhile, in another section of the city, the tomb robber was tailing Seth's two soldiers, hiding around corners and behind stands with ease.  They soon came to a residential area and Bakura managed to get close enough to hear what they were saying.

"…don't know why Lord Seth even bothers," the shorter one was commenting.  "We know he can beat the Pharaoh, but still he wastes his time and manpower by dueling all of his little servants.  Why can't he just challenge the spiky-haired idiot and get it over with?"

His companion shrugged.  "Maybe he enjoys humiliating those useless fools and sending them to the Shadow Realm.  I know I enjoyed killing the Pharaoh's 'friends' in the battle today.  The blond one was especially easy to kill.  I don't know why-" He cut off with a gasp as the other man suddenly slumped to the ground, dead with a knife between his shoulder blades.  He spun around quickly to see Bakura standing behind him, his hand still in the position in which he threw the blade and his face as mask of pure fury.

"What do you want?" Seth's minion asked, sounding slightly fearful.  Slowly, Bakura lowered his hand and straightened up, his eyes never leaving those of the soldier.

"I came to see if you were who I thought you were," the tomb robber answered.  "What was it that you showed Zake on your way out of the room?"

"Why should I tell you?" the other man snapped.

The other belt dagger was immediately in Bakura's hand.  "Because if you don't, I'll have to kill you without knowing if you're really the one that I swore revenge on."

The soldier considered his choices for a moment, then grinned suddenly.  "Sure, why not?" With that, he pulled the pendant out from under his shirt, and the small dragon made of ebony with rubies for eyes shone slightly in the morning sun.  Bakura's eyes narrowed as he saw and recognized the miniature Red-Eyes Black Dragon that hung from a gold chain around his enemy's neck.

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Seth growled as his Ryu-Kishin was destroyed.  Luckily, the monster wasn't that strong, and it had been in defense mode… but soon his defenses would run out, or his opponent would summon another monster to wipe out his remaining Life Points.  Unfortunately, the only monster in his hand, the Battle Ox, had a lousy defense, and its 1700 attack couldn't stand up to the Kaiser Dragon's 2300.  He noticed in a back corner of his mind that the white-haired thief had left his position on the wall, and wondered for a split second where he went.  He had no more time to think about it, however, as his opponent ended his turn.

Hoping desperately that it was a monster, the former High Priest drew his next card and glanced at it.  Yes!  It wasn't a monster, but it would do.  "I'll summon Battle Ox in defense mode, and activate this Magic card!  Nightmare's Steelcage!"  The cage surrounded Yami's sorcerer, effectively stopping all attacks for two of the mage's turns.  "Your move."

His opponent drew, looked at the card, and sighed.  "I pass."

Placing his hand on top of the stone tablets, Seth paused, hoping it was a playable monster so he could set his plan into action.  He drew, and ended up with just that.  Perfect!  "I'll summon the Mystic Horseman, in attack mode!"  The centaur appeared on the field before him, letting out a whinny to announce its presence.

Yami's servant looked slightly interested.  "Hmm… Mystic Horseman and Battle Ox.  You could fuse them into the Rabid Horseman, but his 2000 attack points would be nothing compared to my dragon's 2300.  I wonder what you have up your sleeve?

Seth smirked in reply.  "I'd tell you, but you'll find out soon enough." He held up one finger.  "One more turn… that's all it will take.  Just one turn, and you'll find yourself in the Shadow Realm."  He glanced over the cards in his hand, checking for anything useful.  Finding nothing, he said calmly, "I end my turn."

The opposing sorcerer drew and passed again.  As he ended his turn, the Nightmare's Steelcage disappeared, leaving the monsters free to attack.  When it was Seth's turn, he drew and got just the card he was hoping for.  He grinned evilly across the arena at the other man.  "Now, it's all over for you!  I'll sacrifice my two monsters to summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"  Nearly everyone in the room gasped as Seth's most powerful monster burst into being, blue-white scales shining in all their glory.  Seth laughed maniacally at the look of utter terror on his enemy's face.

Leaning against the wall, Marik rolled his eyes at everyone's reactions.  He didn't get what all the fuss was about.  Seriously, hadn't they all seen it coming?

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The Red-Eyes Black Dragon looked slightly lonely, sitting in the hand of a person not its master.  Bakura glared angrily at the person holding it.  "Where did you get that?"

The man shrugged nonchalantly.  "I guess you could say I won it off someone.  It looked unique, like only one existed, so I decided to take it."

"Very unique," Bakura hissed under his breath.  "Tell me, did that someone have blond hair, brown eyes, and was his name Jonouchi?"

"Why, yes," Seth's minion said casually.  "I believe so."

"I know for a fact that the Pharaoh gave that to Jou as a token of their friendship," Bakura said in a low tone, seeking to control his rage.  "There's only one in the world.  While you were at it, did you also take his _real_ dragon?"

"Well, no, of course not.  We were in the middle of a battle, so I couldn't.  I barely had the time to pick up this little trinket.  Why, was this Jonouchi a friend of yours?" the man asked, fingering the dragon.

"Yes," Bakura breathed angrily.  Not able to take it any longer, he yelled, "And I told myself that I would kill whoever did that to him!"  He pointed the dagger at his opponent.  "I sure hope you know how to wield a blade, because I challenge you to a fight to the death!"

"All right," the other man said coolly, pulling the dagger from his dead companion's back and pointing it at Bakura.  "If you win, you get your revenge and this dragon pendant." He slipped the Red-Eyes back under his robes, then returned his gaze to Bakura.  "And if I win…?"

"If you win," the tomb robber said slowly, "then you will get my deck, as well as all the magic that I possess."

"Fine," the other grinned.  "If you so wish.  Because when I win, the full power of the legendary King of Thieves will be mine to command!"

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 "Now, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Seth shouted.  "White Lightning Attack!"  He laughed as the attack connected with the Kaiser Dragon, as it decimated his opponent's Life Points, and as the final seven sorcerers were struck by lightning and screamed their last.  He watched, still chuckling to himself, as at last the man standing across from him was finally hit, crying out as he disappeared, a tribute to the Shadow Realm.  The former High Priest smiled as the new power from the mage filled his being, boosting his own magic ever-so-slightly.  Pitiful, really, that it had taken him that long to beat such a weakling.  He turned to Yami, his purple robes swishing about him.  "Well then, Pharaoh, with all your other pathetic morons out of the way, isn't it time for us to duel?"

"Yes, I suppose so," Yami answered calmly.  "However, it may take some time for our duel to start.  We'll have to prepare another arena, as you so kindly destroyed this one.  It seems to be in flames right now." He waved his hand to encompass the arena, and Seth scowled as he noticed for the first time that Yami was right.  This one was unusable.

"Fine," the priest of Set snarled.  "Hurry up and ready another one.  I won't have you stalling just to delay your destruction."

"All right," Yami replied mildly.  "However, Seth, you may be surprised.  I don't think I'm the one who will be destroyed today."  Seth growled and swept over to Zake, who was looking impassive at the whole scene.

"Well done," his second greeted him.  Seth nodded in acknowledgement.

"How many tried to run?" he asked, surveying the floor for bodies, though he had the idea that Zake had already thrown them into the flames.

"Only three," the man answered, "though two of the more loyal ones stepped out for a walk a few minutes ago.  They haven't returned yet."

"Hmm," Seth mused.  "I wonder what happened to them?"

Zake shrugged.  "They'll be back," he answered indifferently.  "They know what happens to traitors."

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Yami walked over to where Marik was still leaning against the wall, an impassive expression on his face.  The Pharaoh raised an eyebrow.  "What, not surprised?"

Marik shrugged.  "Hey, did YOU expect your side to win?  How long do you think it will take for the new arena to be prepared?"

"Probably the better part of an hour.  Where's Bakura?  I haven't seen him since the Kaiser Dragon was summoned."

"I think he went chasing off after some of Seth's sorcerers that left the room.  Don't know why, really.  Your guards could have taken them.  He looked really angry, though."

Yami looked thoughtful.  "If he was angry… maybe one of them did something to offend him?"

"No, I don't think so." Marik answered.  "He looked more like he wanted to kill them for some reason… revenge, or something."

Yami looked questioningly at the slave.  "Revenge?  For what?  Did something happen on the battlefield?"

Marik averted his gaze.  "Um… kind of.  I'll let Bakura explain.  How about we start preparing the arena before Seth gets impatient and orders his Blue-Eyes to blast us all?"

Yami frowned at the sudden change of topic, but replied, "All right.  We might as well get started, and hopefully Bakura will appear before the duel begins."

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The soldier lay panting on the ground, his weapon twenty feet away to the side.  He stared fearfully up at the white-haired man towering over him, whose face had not yet lost the look of pure rage.

"P-please," he begged.  "Please spare my life.  I'll do anything for you, anything!  Just don't kill me!"

Bakura continued glaring at him, no hint of mercy showing in his angry brown eyes.  "Coward.  You call yourself a warrior?  Jou didn't deserve to die at the hands of a spineless fool like you.  And remember, we said that this was a fight to the death."

"I know," the man whimpered piteously.  "I know… but please don't kill me!  You've already beaten me!  Isn't that enough for you?"

The thief sighed and turned away.  "I hate to do this," he muttered to himself.  Just as the man opened his mouth to thank him, Bakura turned back around and slit his throat.  The look of utter surprise stayed on the dead soldier's face as Bakura continued, "I don't like killing people when they're on their hands and knees, begging for mercy, but I suppose the world's better off without pathetic weaklings like you."  He kicked the body over to a dark alley, hiding it where it probably wouldn't be found by a stray child.  He'd come back and dispose of it later.  "Oh well.  I guess my revenge is complete, and I couldn't have done it without killing someone…" As he walked out in the open, he completely ignored the body of the other man, where some of the Pharaoh's royal guards were gathered.  Upon seeing him, they nodded, suddenly understanding, and carried the body away.  Bakura called after them, "I left another one in the alley over there.  One less mystery for you to solve."

Heading back to the temple, Bakura smirked to himself.  A few months ago, the King of Thieves wouldn't be caught anywhere near those people!  And now, they recognized and respected him… The tomb robber shook his head.  The duel was probably already over, with Seth being the victor.  The former High Priest wouldn't allow himself to be defeated that easily, and that meant that it was Yami's turn to play.  This was one game that Bakura wouldn't miss for the world.

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Yami was seriously on edge by the time the arena was almost ready.  He hissed to Marik, "Where IS that blasted tomb robber?  He should've been here by now!  Whatever he's doing shouldn't take THIS long!"

Marik shrugged.  "I have no idea.  Bakura should be here soon – unless he gets killed along the way."

Yami opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a voice behind him.  "Me?  Killed?  Have you no faith in me, Marik?"

The slave smiled slightly.  "Do I really have to answer that question?"

The Pharaoh cut in before Bakura had the chance to answer.  "Where WERE you?  What could be more important than a duel that decides the fate of the world?"

Bakura hesitated slightly, glancing at Marik before answering with a single word.  "Revenge."

Yami looked completely puzzled.  "Revenge?  On who?  For what?"

Bakura sighed heavily before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the Red-Eyes pendant.  He handed it to Yami, who stared at it for a few seconds before his eyes filled with tears.  "No…"

The other two crept away slowly to let the Pharaoh mourn alone, but unfortunately, it wasn't long before he was interrupted.  "My Pharaoh?" Simon asked.  "The dueling arena-it's ready."  He took a quick look at Yami's face, concerned.  "What's wrong?"

Yami sniffed slightly, then ran a hand over his face quickly.  "Nothing," he answered.  "You said the arena's ready?" Simon nodded.  "All right then." He walked toward the door to that room of the temple, slipping the pendant over his head.  Marik and Bakura glanced at each other and followed, catching up within seconds.

"Do you get it now?" Marik asked softly.  No longer crying, Yami stared straight ahead and nodded once.

"Yes." The Pharaoh glanced at the two to either side of him.  "To seal away the Games, I must defeat my worst enemy in battle." He took a deep breath. "Seth will be the last sacrifice.  And this…" His hand went up to clutch the small dragon.  "This is for Jou."

"For Jou," both Bakura and Marik echoed as they entered the room where Seth was already waiting, deck placed on the altar before him.  
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Seth sneered slightly as Yami ascended the steps to take his place on the other side of the arena.  "Pharaoh.  It's about time you got here.  Trying to delay our battle, are we?"

"No.  It's just that I had other business to attend to," Yami said calmly.  "I'm ready for you now.  And I swear," he touched the pendant around his neck, "I swear on this dragon that I will defeat you."  The dragon's eyes shone slightly for a moment, as if it was acknowledging the promise.

Seth raised an eyebrow as he recognized it.  "Jou's pendant?  So they're dead.  Pity, I had that one marked as a good fighter: after all, he managed to kill your best friend."

Yami's eyes narrowed.  "Shut up and let's play."

"DUEL!"

The priests on both sides began chanting immediately.  "Realm of Shadows, in this twilight hour, accept these souls and grant us power, Realm of Shadows, in this twilight hour, accept these souls and grant us power…"

Yami ignored them and drew a card.  "I'll set two cards facedown and summon the Celtic Guardian!"  The elf appeared, sword held at the ready, signifying that it was in attack mode.  "Your move."

The former high priest drew, glancing at the card.  He smirked when he saw it.  _'Perfect.  My first turn, and I already have one of my Blue-Eyes in my hand.  I'll save it for later.'_ He shifted his gaze to Yami.  "I'll also set two cards facedown, and I'll set a monster in defense mode."  The tablet appeared before him, and Seth sneered at his opponent.  "I'd advise you not to attack.  You won't like what I have in store for you."

Yami's game face didn't disappear for a second.  "Oh really?  So it's an effect monster.  In that case…" He held out a hand, and one of his two facedown cards revealed itself.  "Activate trap!  Light of Intervention!"  The light flooded the field, and Seth's Cyber Jar flipped face-up.  Thanks to the trap, its effect wasn't activated.

Seth scowled as he scanned over his hand one more time.  "End turn."

Yami drew his next card, adding it to his hand as he once again scanned through the cards he currently held: Kuriboh, Giant Soldier of Stone, Silver Fang, Spellbinding Circle, and Catapult Turtle.  "I'll summon Silver Fang!" The wolf appeared on the field in attack mode, baring its fangs ferociously.  "I'll use Silver Fang to attack your Cyber Jar, and my Celtic Guardian will attack your Life Points directly!" Seth cried out slightly as the monster roared and swung its sword, taking a sizeable chunk out of his Life Points (Seth's LP: 2600).  "I'll set one more card facedown and end my turn."

Seth drew, and, to his surprise, got his second Blue-Eyes.  _'Two in a row… not bad.  Seems like all of the Pharaoh's gods are against him.'_  Searching his hand for a card that could possibly beat one of Yami's monsters, his eyes fell on the leftmost card that he held: Ryu-Kishin Powered.  It could easily help him stall long enough to get his one of his Blue-Eyes into play.  "I'll summon Ryu-Kishin Powered, in attack mode!  Attack his Silver Fang!"  (Yami's LP: 3600) "Your move."

Yami drew and got the magic card Exchange, useless in this situation. "I'll switch my Celtic Guardian to defense mode, and summon the Giant Soldier of Stone, also in defense."  Yami sighed as he scanned his hand again.  "There's nothing else I can do.  End turn."

Seth smirked at his next card.  Not a Blue-Eyes this time, but it would do.  "I'll sacrifice my Ryu-Kishin Powered to summon the mighty Swordstalker!"  The purple warrior appeared before him, grinning as it brandished its black sword.  "Swordstalker-attack the Celtic Guardian!"  The elf tried to block the attack with his sword for a moment, but the stronger monster got the better of him and sliced him in half.  (Yami's LP: 3000)

Growling slightly, Yami drew a card he desperately needed.  "Swords of Revealing Light!"  The Swords flew towards Seth's side of the field, freezing his monsters for three turns, which would hopefully be long enough for Yami to get something useful.  "Then I'll play Kuriboh in defense mode and end my turn."

Seth drew his next card and grinned widely.  This would be fun.  "I'll summon Saggi the Dark Clown in attack mode, and set one card facedown!" The demented clown cackled slightly as it appeared, with the other card hovering behind it.

Yami tensed slightly at the play.  He'd dueled Seth a few times before, so he was pretty sure of what was waiting for him.  "Saggi the Dark Clown?  So that means that one of your facedown cards has got to be Crush Card…"

"Maybe, maybe not," the former High Priest answered mildly.  "You'll just have to wait and see.  In the meantime, it's your turn."

Yami drew and barely glanced at the card: Feral Imp.  He was too busy with the situation before him to really consider the monster.  _'Seth knows I know his dueling strategies, so one of those cards might really be Crush Card.  On the other hand, he may be bluffing, stalling so he can summon a powerful monster to wipe me out…  There's only one way to find out.  But the fate of the world rests on this duel, so can I risk it?'_

"Pharaoh!" a voice called from the wall behind Yami.  He turned to see Bakura looking at him, casual as usual.  "What are you waiting for?"  Yami glared at him, but the tomb robber continued, "Stop worrying about one little move in the duel.  There's no way you'll lose against this moron." He gestured towards Seth, who raised an eyebrow, looking bored.  "I know you're worried about his facedown cards, but you'll still win.  After all, you're not the King of Games for nothing."

Yami turned back to the duel, Bakura's words echoing in his mind.  _'He's right… I'm the King of Games.  So I guess I'll have to take a gamble.'_ Taking a deep breath, he yelled to Seth, "I'll summon the Feral Imp, in attack mode!" The little fiend appeared before him, fangs bared in anticipation.  Yami continued, "Feral Imp-attack the clown!"

As the Imp rushed forward, Seth smiled.  "You've just fallen into my trap, Pharaoh.  Reveal-"

"No!" Yami shouted.  "Activate facedown card!  Dust Tornado!"  The trap revealed a gigantic whirlwind, which headed straight for Seth's traps.  The priest didn't lose his composure for a second, though.

"Dust Tornado can only destroy one magic or trap card," he stated calmly.  "That means you have a one in three chance of choosing the right card.  So what'll it be, Pharaoh?"

Yami stared intently at the cards, willing them to tell him which was the trap.  Common sense told him to pick the card that Seth had just played, but something else was there too… "Destroy the card in the middle!"  Behind him, he heard Bakura and Marik shout, "Yami, you idiot!" in unison, but it was too late to pick another target.

The tornado hit the middle card just as the Feral Imp slashed at Saggi the Dark Clown with its claws.  Everyone in the room held their breaths as the clown was destroyed, waiting for the dark virus to attack Yami's deck… but it never happened.

The whirlwind flipped the middle card faceup for a split second before it burst into a thousand pieces, revealing a pattern of purple spores.  Seth looked slightly annoyed with the new development, and the look of absolute amazement on both Marik and Bakura's faces was priceless.  Seth also took some damage from Saggi's destruction.  (Seth's LP: 1900)

"So how did you know it was that card and not the one I just played?" the former priest asked.

Yami smirked.  "I guess you could call it luck.  Luck, and a little something called faith.  It's your move."

"Only one turn left until your Swords disappear," Seth remarked as he drew.  "La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp, in attack mode.  That'll end my turn."

Yami drew and finally got a monster that rivaled the Swordstalker in attack points.   "I'll sacrifice my Feral Imp for the mighty Curse of Dragon!  Attack his La Jinn!" Yami grinned slightly.  "That's what happens when you load your deck with high-attack monsters with almost no defense." (Seth's LP: 1700)

Seth drew and sighed slightly.  "Mystic Horseman, in defense mode.  And it's your turn."  Right after he finished his sentence, the Swords of Revealing Light disappeared, freeing the Swordstalker and leaving him free to attack next turn.

Yami drew, glanced at his next card, and placed it in his hand. "Curse of Dragon, attack the Mystic Horseman!"  The dragon drew a deep breath in preparation for his attack, but Seth acted first.

"You've fallen right into my trap, Pharaoh!" he sneered.  "Activate trap!  Shadow Spell!"  One of the facedown cards flipped up to reveal Seth's infamous trap.  Yami gasped slightly as the black chains reached out and ensnared his monster, stopping it from attacking and reducing its attack points by 700.

"I guess it's your move," Yami said softly.  Seth smirked as he drew.

"Afraid yet, Pharaoh?" he mocked, looking at his next card.  His smile grew wider as he recognized his third Blue-Eyes White Dragon.  "All right then… I'll sacrifice my Swordstalker and Mystic Horseman to summon the all-powerful Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"  The legendary monster appeared, screeching to announce its presence on the field.  "Attack his Curse of Dragon!"  The Blue-Eyes' White Lightning washed over the dark dragon, which screamed for a moment before bursting into a thousand pieces and taking a huge chunk out of Yami's lifepoints.  (Yami's LP: 1300)  "And with that, I'll end my turn.  Why don't you surrender now?  There's no possible way for you to win, and you might as well end your suffering now."

"Never," Yami snarled, and drew.  A smile lit his face as he looked at his next card.  "One card facedown," he began, and it appeared behind his two monsters.  "And I'll end my turn."

Seth laughed scornfully.  "Is that all you've got?  Pathetic."  He drew his next card and barely glanced at it, adding it to his hand.  "Blue-Eyes!  Use White Lightning to destroy his Giant Soldier of Stone!"

"Not so fast," Yami said calmly.  "Activate magic card!  Multiply!"  The card he had just played activated itself, and the Kuriboh multiplied at an amazing rate, moving in front of the other monster and blocking the Blue-Eyes' attack.  Seth growled in annoyance, glaring angrily at the fuzzy little monsters.  Yami laughed.  "I forgot, you don't like them…" In the background, Bakura snickered slightly.  Hmm… Kuribohs and a Blue-Eyes…

"End turn," Seth said, still glaring hatefully at the fuzzballs.  Yami raised an eyebrow before drawing his next card.

"I'll pass," the Pharaoh said.  "Not that it matters anyway.  It might take a while for you to get rid of my defenses."

Seth drew and got just the card he was looking for.  "Not as long as you might think, Pharaoh.  I'll activate this magic card!  Soul Exchange!"

"I'll use its effect to sacrifice both of your monsters and summon my second Blue-Eyes!"  Squeaking, all of the Kuribohs disappeared, along with the Giant Soldier of Stone.  On Seth's side of the field, another Blue-Eyes appeared, roaring its battle cry.

"Unfortunately, Soul Exchange's only drawback is that I have to wait one turn before attacking on the turn when I use it," Seth said regretfully.  "Too bad, Pharaoh.  I would have completely destroyed you on this turn if I could attack, but I suppose your demise will have to wait."

"We'll see about that," Yami said, drawing his next card.  "I'll activate Card Destruction, and use it to send both our hands to the Graveyard!"

Seth smirked.  "You have no idea how much that's just helped me, Pharaoh."

"Whatever," Yami said indifferently.  "It's your move."

"Time for your destruction then, Pharaoh," the priest of Set smiled.  "I'll activate my facedown Monster Reborn to bring back my third Blue-Eyes White Dragon, in attack mode!  And…" he pointed to a card in his hand, and it turned around to reveal Polymerization.  "I'll fuse them together to form the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

"But you can't attack this turn because it's a fusion monster," Yami stated calmly.  "So I guess it's my move."  Receiving a nod of affirmation from Seth, he drew his next card.  "Well, I guess the first order of business would be to unfuse your dragon.  So… De-Fusion, activate!"  The card flipped faceup, and the look on Seth's face was absolutely priceless as he watched his dragon being torn apart.  "Next, like you, I'll activate Monster Reborn and use it to bring back the Dark Magician!"  Yami's favorite card appeared before him, brandishing its staff.

"Your magician's still not enough to defeat my dragons, though," Seth noted.

"Not yet, maybe," Yami said confidently, "But I'll also activate these cards!  Book of Secret Arts and the Yami field magic card!  The Book raises my magician's attack power by 500 and my field magic a further 200, bringing his total attack power up to 3200!  Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" (Seth's LP: 1700)  "That will end my turn."

Seth drew and frowned at the card he got: not what he needed.  So… "I'll activate Pot of Greed and use it to draw two new cards," he announced.  The first was useless, but the second… he smirked.  "I'll activate the magic card Dragon Treasure and use it to raise the power of one of my Blue-Eyes to 3300 attack points!  Blue-Eyes, attack his Dark Magician!"

"Did you forget my facedown card, Seth?" Yami asked.  "Go, Spellbinding Circle!"  Seth growled as his dragon was surrounded by Yami's trap.  "My Spellbinding Circle card lowers your Blue-Eyes' attack by 700 points."

"I know perfectly well what it does, Pharaoh!"  Seth sneered.  "I'll set one card facedown, and it's your move."

Yami drew his next card, setting it facedown on the field.  "Dark Magician, destroy his Blue-Eyes!"  The monster obliged, annihilating the dragon in no time at all.  (Seth's LP: 1100)  "I'll end my turn."

Seth drew his card and smiled upon seeing it.  "You know, Pharaoh, this is the play that will end the duel."

"Indeed," Yami answered.  "Let's see it, then."

"Fine!  First, I'll activate the magic card DNA Surgery, to change all Dragon-type monsters to Machines!"  On the field, Seth's one remaining Blue-Eyes roared as its blue-white scales changed to metal, forming a coat of steel and transforming it into a mecha Blue-Eyes.  "And next, I'll activate this card!  Limiter Removal doubles the attack strength of all my machine monsters on the field!  They're destroyed at the end of the turn, but you'll be done for before that happens."

"We'll see about that," Yami said calmly as he and the Dark Magician stared up at the Blue-Eyes.  "You're right; the duel will end this turn, but you won't be the victor."

Seth smirked.  "Let's see you prove it, then.  Blue-Eyes," he cried, raising his voice.  "White Lightning!"

"This duel is over," Yami said confidently.  "Activate trap!  REVERSE TRAP!"

"No!  Stop!" Seth cried, but it was already too late.  The attack had been unleashed, but instead of his dragon's attack power being doubled, it was brought down to zero.

"Dark Magic Attack!" Yami called, and the Dark Magician obeyed.  The metal Blue-Eyes was destroyed, and Seth's LP were at zero.  The duel had been won.

"No!" Seth cried, falling to his knees.  "How can this be?"

Just then, Bakura walked up to Yami and tapped him on the shoulder.  Turning, Yami looked at him quizzically, and the tomb robber pointed to a spot on the floor.  Yami glanced at it and noticed the pool of dragon's blood forming in a small dip in the floor.

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The next few hours were a blur to Yami.  All he remembered was bits and pieces of the ritual…

_"Dragon's blood of greatest might_

_Mixed with sand of Egypt's night…"_

_Simon knelt down next to the dip in the floor in the arena, carefully dribbling Khon's sand into it.  The mixture turned a deep blue, and he carefully scooped it up and put it in a small jar before joining the others in the doorway…_

_"Mixture placed on highest dune_

_Invoke the most ancient rune…"_

_The blood and sand were spilled on a huge dune, fifty miles from the capital.  To the surprise of all, a huge black portal appeared, lined with gold, and they knew it was time for the sacrifices._

_"First soul, hatred borne of old…"_

_Seth, bound and tied, was shoved through the portal.  Yami shivered as the former high priest glared at him, and then he was gone._

_"Second has a love of gold…"_

_Bakura walked calmly to the portal, staring at it for a slight moment.  _"I never thought I'd give my life to help the Pharaoh,"_ he remarked, then walked in.  Yami could have sworn he winked._

_"Third knows violence, born a slave…"_

_Marik was next, no emotions showing his face as he approached the portal.  He glanced at Yami right before he went in and said, _"See you later, Pharaoh."

_"Tragedy first's hatred gave_

_To fourth, he who casts this spell_

_Noblest, he'll make all well."_

_And then finally, it was Yami's turn.  He stepped up to the portal and looked behind him at the faces of all his friends and advisors.  His eyes fell on Simon last of all, and a lump rose in his throat.  _"Take care of the kingdom for me,"_ he whispered.  Unable to speak, his old friend nodded silently.  Taking a deep breath, Yami stepped forward and through the portal, Simon's final words echoing in his ears.  _"I will, my Pharaoh, I promise you I will."

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"So he's gone," Anzu whispered.  "Just like that, the Pharaoh's gone…"

"He'll be back someday," Isis said quietly.  "Many centuries from now, through many trials and hardships, he will return to Egypt…"

As everyone slowly turned and walked away, Isis remained, staring at the place where the portal had been.  "The path you have chosen is harsh, my Pharaoh," she whispered.  "But you will make it.  You have to.  Good luck… to all of you."  With that, she turned and walked away.  Within minutes, nothing was left to show what had happened.  Nothing… but a small pendant of a Red-Eyes Black Dragon, the eyes glittering in the sun.

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Wow… that sounded more like an ending than a beginning, and this is only the prologue XD.  Next chapter the real story starts, and we skip forward five thousand years to the present day.  Fun.  And I know I suck at death scenes, no need to tell me that.

Review!  Review!  Review!  I want at least three reviews before I continue, considering how hard I worked on this.  Of course, I'll probably post the next chapter no matter how many reviews I get…  But I write faster with more reviews!  I'll try to get the next one up soon (in other words, before my December 3 birthday), and reviews'll help!  Oh, and flames will be used to make s'mores to give to everyone who reviewed nicely!  Yet again, please review!__


	2. Just Normal Boys

Here's chapter two!  Review responses are at the end of the chapter.  If the characters are a bit OOC, that's because there aren't any Millennium Items, meaning Yugi's a pushover and Joey and Tristan are still mean to him. If any of you have read the manga, think how they were before Yugi solved the Puzzle.  Kaiba's still rich, famous, and undefeated.  Malik and Isis… well, their story's pretty messed up if the Millennium Items didn't exist, so I rewrote their entire history.  Just to make things a bit simpler, their father's still dead, but Malik didn't kill him.  I'll let you imagine how it happened.

*hands out s'mores to Hikari-Neko, hobbitfeet13, Hikage Kitsune, and Jelly Bean 18* ^_^ Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter!  And HK, you can think of this as an early birthday present too if you want.

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!  I do, however, own Zake, which I forgot to mention last chapter.  He'll probably be a semi-important character in this fic.

Notes:

"Speech"

'Thoughts' 

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Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter One

Just Normal Boys

The alarm clock went off for the second time that day, but a hand reached out from under the covers, hit the snooze button, and retreated back under the sheets.  A few more minutes passed by in silence before the door slammed open and a female voice started yelling.

"MALIK!  What do you think you're doing?  You're going to be late for school!"

Malik Ishtar winced at how loud his sister was.  Pulling the pillow over his head, he mumbled, "Aw, but Isis, do I have to go?"

Isis stalked over to the bed, grabbed the pillow, and threw it across the room.  "Yes!  It's your first day, and you don't want to be late!  Eat!  You only have thirty minutes!"

"Fine," Malik grumbled, sitting up.  As soon as his sister left, he asked the room, "But why do I have to go anyway?"

Half an hour later, Isis practically kicked Malik out the front door and onto the sidewalk, slamming the door behind him.  "Isis!" Malik whined, but he got no answer.  The lock on the door clicked, and Malik sighed.  "Might as well," he sighed, standing up and brushing himself off.

Most of the walk to school was spent staring at the sky.  Malik reached another intersection and glanced around.  "Hmm… that way," he decided, turning left.  "Of course, I could just ditch and tell Isis that I got lost… but she wouldn't believe me anyway.  She never believes me."  Cocking his head back, he stared up at the clouds, shivering slightly through the light jacket that was part of his Domino High uniform.  It was never this cold in Egypt.  In Egypt, all you had to wear was short sleeves and you'd be set to go.  Here, it was freezing cold in autumn, and Malik could just _imagine_ how cold it would be in winter… just _why_ did Isis have to get a job here, in Japan of all places?  This Ra-forsaken country was so chilly at the best of times, and it was warm at most compared to Egypt…

Malik suddenly tripped and almost fell flat on his face, throwing out his hands and catching himself just in time.  He growled out, "All right, who just tripped me?"  He hadn't seen anyone, so of _course_ it couldn't have been an accident.  In Japan, people were so rude.  Now, in Egypt…

A slight whimper distracted Malik out of his thoughts.  He looked to his left, where a boy about a foot shorter than him and also wearing the Domino High Uniform was staring at him with the largest purple eyes imaginable.  So _that's_ why he overlooked him… but then again, that tri-colored hair was rather noticeable.

"G-gomen nasai," the boy said quietly.  "I'm late for school, so I was in a hurry and ran out the door and straight into you.  I didn't mean it, really!  It was an accident!"

Malik raised an eyebrow, sighed, and automatically labeled the kid a pushover.  "Whatever," he grumbled, pushing himself to his feet.  The other boy did the same, and they continued walking, the shorter kid following about three feet behind Malik.  They went on this way for a while, and eventually Malik started getting annoyed.  The boy was following behind him, not saying anything, and anytime he turned around he'd look at him with those big scared violet eyes!  Tired of the silence, Malik said, "Look, kid, what's your name?"

"I'm Yugi," he answered, adding bravely, "and I'm not a kid.  I'm in tenth grade."

"Really?" Malik asked calmly.  Yugi gulped and nodded, obviously regretting having said anything.  Malik sighed again and turned away.  _'He's in my grade… geez, I hope all the kids in my class aren't like this.'_

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Twenty-five minutes later, Malik walked quickly to the office, ignoring the many stares he got as he went.  Obviously, this school hadn't gotten any new students in a long time.  He found it quickly, slipping inside the door and approaching the receptionist.  Barely glancing up, she asked in a bored tone, "What do you want?"

"I'm the new student," Malik answered.  "My name's Malik Ishtar."

"Malik, hmm?" The secretary hit something on a keyboard and printed out a piece of paper, handing it to Malik.  "Here's your new class schedule.  Enjoy your first day, dear."

"Whatever," Malik muttered under his breath so the lady wouldn't hear.  He turned away, quickly leaving the office.  He scanned his schedule as he approached his locker.

"It says my first class is in room 873… where in the name of Ra is that?"

"It's right down the hallway," a soft voice answered.  Malik looked up-or rather, down-and spotted the boy from earlier.  "It's my first class too," Yugi continued.  "Can I see your schedule?  Maybe I can help."

Malik glared at Yugi for a moment, and the smaller boy shrank under his gaze.  Finally, Malik sighed and gave in.  "Fine," he muttered, handing over the schedule.  Yugi took it with trembling hands, which steadied slowly as he read.

"This is good," he commented.  "You're in all of my classes.  That means I can show you around."

"Great," Malik mumbled sarcastically.  "Anyone else?"

"Just one person," Yugi answered, handing the schedule back.  "I think his name's Ryou.  He just transferred in a few months ago."

"What's he like?" Malik wondered aloud.

"Umm… I don't really know him that well.  He's really quiet.  He's from Britain, and he has white hair…"

_'Just what this country needs, even more weirdos,'_ Malik thought dryly.  _'And of course, the teacher'll probably have hair dyed in rainbow colors.'_ Now, in Egypt…

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Ryou Bakura walked into the classroom, unnoticed as usual.  The quiet British boy had been the new kid for a few months now, and he had yet to make any friends.  His shyness hadn't helped at all.  Ryou sat down at his desk and sighed.  Why, oh why couldn't have they stayed in England, where he actually knew people?

The first bell rang and two boys rushed in, apparently afraid that they'd be late.  Ryou glanced at them uninterestedly, and then took a second look.  One of them was Yugi Muto, who Ryou barely knew.  The other had long blond hair and fuchsia eyes, and was obviously a new kid.  From the way he was looking at Yugi, he was more likely to be a punk than a potential friend.  Ryou turned away and stared at the board.  No likely friends in that area.

Off to Ryou's right, a blond and a brunette boy exchanged grins and rose.  He didn't notice; this was all part of a daily routine.  Joey and Tristan had tried to pick on him his first few weeks of school, but they had quickly lost interest.  Ryou never complained, but Yugi was a good target.

Yugi gulped slightly and backed behind Malik a bit, but the taller boy either didn't notice or didn't care.  Joey and Tristan walked over to him, both with identical not-so-nice smiles on their faces.  He glanced around the room quickly but didn't see Tea anywhere.  Not good.

"So Yugi," Joey began casually.  "You're late.  Were you trying to get here after the teacher came?"

"N-no," Yugi stammered.  Tristan leered at him.

"That's good, then.  We'll have a lesson after school.  You still need to be toughened up some more, you know.  The real world is harsh, and you're lucky we're being so nice to you, helping you out and all."

Yugi nodded quickly and shrank behind Malik, who was staring at Joey and Tristan with a bored look on his face.  The duo finally noticed him for the first time, and Joey grinned again.

"Hey, lookie here, a new kid.  Friend of yours, Yugi?"

"No, not really," Yugi replied quietly, his eyes round.

"He doesn't look so tough," Tristan commented.  "Maybe he could use some help, too.  Hey new guy, come meet us after school in the front yard.  We'll teach you too."

Malik glanced behind him at Yugi, noticing for the first time the slight bruise that covered one side of the smaller boy's face.  He raised an eyebrow and turned around to face the two class bullies.  "How about not?"

Joey scowled at him, raising his fist slightly.  "Then how about we make you?"  His fist flew through the air, heading straight for Malik's face.  Yugi and Ryou both winced and turned away, waiting for the inevitable sound of fist hitting face.

It never came.

Yugi opened one eye slowly and glanced up.  He gasped, and both eyes flew open.

Malik was standing there with Joey's fist caught in one hand.  The expression on his face hadn't changed at all, but Joey and Tristan's looks of complete surprise mirrored each other.  The Egyptian spoke slowly, his voice boiling with menace.  "I said I'm not coming.  Isn't that good enough for you morons?"  He glared at the two other boys, who both gulped.  The don't-mess-with-me-or-else look on Malik's face was not one they were used to seeing.

"Fine," Joey croaked out, still trying to pick up what was left of his dignity. "Don't come if you don't want to.  It's all the same to us." Tristan nodded agreement, and the two practically scampered off to their desks.

"Hmph," Malik snorted, walking to the front of the room and leaning against the board.  Yugi shot him a scared look before he too fled to his seat.  Malik glanced around the room, and everyone who had been staring at him quickly found something else to do.

In the far corner of the room, a certain rich and powerful CEO was sitting with his arms crossed and grinning.  _'About time someone shut those two losers up,'_ he thought. _'I could have done it myself, but why waste effort on such a pathetic pursuit?'_

The teacher (who, surprisingly enough, had normal-looking blond hair) entered the room at that moment, and the class settled down.  "Class, I'd like to introduce you to your new classmate, Malik Ishtar." Instead of clapping, the whole class (Kaiba excluded) sent the Egyptian scared looks.

The teacher, obviously puzzled at the reaction, said, "Umm… well then, so much for a warm welcome.  Malik, why don't you take a seat next to Ryou?  He's the one with the white hair.  I'm sure you'll get along nicely."

Malik walked sulkily to his seat, glancing at Ryou as he passed by.  The British boy stared at Malik fearfully, scooting as far away from him as he could in his seat.  Malik sighed as he sat down.  _'And THIS is the other kid who I'm going to spend class time with.  Oh, I'm sure this'll be a GREAT year.'_

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Yugi slipped into the cafeteria, checking around for an unoccupied table where he could sit alone, like he usually did.  He found one in the far corner and weaved his way expertly into through the crowd, heading for it.  He was almost there when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around to see the last two people he wanted to face.

Joey and Tristan were staring down at him, angry looks on their faces.  They obviously hadn't forgotten what had happened that morning, but that didn't exactly explain why they were mad at him.  They should be angry with Malik, right?  They didn't have a reason to be mad at him.  Of course, Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor were famous for doing things without reason.

"Well, Yugi," Joey began pleasantly, "nice to see ya again.  How've you been doing?  Your new friend treating you nicely?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, but, well, you see, he's not really my friend…" Yugi suddenly became aware of all the stares they were getting and the whispers that ran around the room.

"Hey, isn't that Yugi Muto?  Yeah, I heard he brought that new kid to school with him to beat the living daylights out of those two.  And I heard he did a pretty good job of it, too."

"Really?  He beat _those two_ up?  Man, he must be really good."

"Yeah!  I heard the teacher was in the room and didn't stop him because she was so scared!"

"I wouldn't wanna get on his bad side if I were them.  He could just call his friend and they'd be toast!"

"Someone told me that he saw them in the hallway when the new guy was coming toward them.  Their eyes went wide as saucers and they ran away in the other direction!"

"Hah, those guys are cowards!  Malik didn't seem that tough.  Those two must be really weak if they lost to a guy like that!"

"You see?" Tristan hissed in Yugi's ear.  "Rumor spreads quickly.  Your 'friend' has ruined our reputation.  We're going to be the laughingstock of the school for the next few weeks.  And… well, Joey and I don't like being laughed at.  Someone's gonna pay."

"And that 'someone' ought to be the one who brought that punk into our territory in the first place," Joey continued, watching in delight as Yugi gulped.  "So… double lessons until this rumor fades out.  Here's a little sample of what's in store today."

Yugi winced as the hand on his shoulder suddenly tightened, gripping it hard enough to bruise.  He stood it for as long as he could before finally whimpering, "Please… stop… please!  It hurts!"

Joey chuckled darkly.  "Aw, wittle Yugi says it hurts.  What a joke." He brought his mouth closer to Yugi's ear. "And we haven't even gotten to the real lesson yet.  You're so weak.  That's why we do this, to toughen you up.  You can't always rely on people like Malik to protect you."

"I told you, he's not my friend!"

"Denial," Tristan said, shaking his head. "You're lying.  Five minutes extra for today.  You know the drill.  Front yard, after school when everyone's gone.  If you're late…" He gave Yugi a "friendly" slap on the back, and the small boy cried out in pain.  "Well, I suggest you aren't late."  He and Joey grinned as they walked away. "All right then, it's settled.  See you after school, Yugi!"  The pair walked away, laughing to themselves.

Yugi stood there for a while, taking deep, calming breaths, all thoughts of eating forgotten.  He'd have to show up; it would be worse for him tomorrow if he didn't.  And then he thought of Malik.  The Egyptian had stood up to them, and he had won.  And he was supposed to be helping out at the Game Shop today…

"All right," Yugi whispered to himself. "Today, I'm not doing it.  But I can't stand up to them face-to-face…" He glanced out the window, where a huge tree took up almost half the yard.  Yugi smiled as sudden inspiration came to him. "So I won't.  There're plenty of hiding places in the roots, and I go home as soon as they leave!  It's the perfect plan!  No one'll ever find me there!"

And so he made the decision that would change his life forever.

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Ryou didn't even bother to get lunch, slipping through the front doors of the school and taking a seat on the top step.  Sometimes, he just liked to sit here and watch the cars and people go by.  A bit of a weird pastime, maybe, but he didn't really care, and no one said anything anyway.  Of course, few people ever said anything to him, and even fewer even noticed him.

Malik had, though.  That had been about the only good thing he had noticed about the new student: he actually looked at Ryou.  Then again, it was hard not to notice him, considering his hair and the fact that they were in all the same classes together.

Something nudged Ryou in the back, but he ignored it.  Probably just an accident.  He didn't have any friends here anyway; they were all back in Britain.  He'd hoped that Malik might be nice and actually talk to him, since they were both relatively new, but the tough act he'd put on earlier had effectively killed that dream.

Someone hit him in the back again, harder this time, but Ryou didn't notice, wrapped up in his thoughts as he was.  He had an idea that Yugi could be a friend, except that would attract the bullies to him, too, and he had enough problems as it was…

The person was, by now, obviously annoyed.  He kicked Ryou this time, hard enough to make him fall forward and tumble down the steps, landing facefirst in a pile of dirt, his Duel Monsters cards falling out of his pocket as he did so.  He looked up to see Ushio Tenrio glaring at him.

"Don't sit on the steps!" the hall monitor ordered. "You're blocking the way for the rest of us."

"Sorry," Ryou said quietly, choosing to ignore the fact that there was still enough space left for five people to cross if they stood shoulder-to-shoulder.  He collected his cards, slipped them into his pocket, walked up the stairs, picked up his bag, and headed for an empty place in the shade of the school building.

As he walked, Ryou thought bitterly, _'Might as well try to befriend Yugi.  I'm enough of a pushover already, so it's not like a couple more bullies would make a difference.'_

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Malik wandered into the schoolyard, glancing around for a place to sit.  He noticed one in the shade of the giant oak that Yugi had seen earlier, where dozens of students were lounging around and talking to each other.  All of them, even the upperclassmen, sent frightened glances in his direction, and Malik sighed.  He'd come out here trying to find somewhere where he could get _away_ from the stares!

There was a perfect place against the trunk of the tree, nestled comfortably between two of the tree roots.  He walked toward it and gave an exasperated sigh as the students eating there took one look at him and fled.  His first day and he already had a reputation as a punk and a tough guy.  Not fun.

Malik sat down in between the tree roots, took out his lunch, and groaned.  "_When_ will Isis learn that I don't like peanut butter and jelly?" He ate it anyway; it wasn't like he'd get anything else to eat.  He'd learned enough about school lunches to know that he'd rather starve then eat one.

Someone cleared his throat above him, and Malik didn't even bother to look up. "Whaddya want?"

"You're the new kid, aren't you?" a deep voice asked.  Malik nodded, and the person continued, "Obviously, or you would've known that this is our place.  Clear out now or else."

Now, Malik didn't like being threatened.  He coolly raised his gaze to take in the person in front of him: a senior, and roughly half a foot taller than him.  A normal person would have run away as fast as they could, but as previously stated, Malik didn't like being threatened. "Or else what?  You'll make me?  Just try it."

The senior guffawed.  "I like your attitude, kid.  How about this: you join my gang, I don't hurt you." He gestured behind him at a group of upperclassmen who were even bigger than the school football team.

"Whatever," Malik muttered, going back to his food.  He pulled out a banana and made a face.  Fruit doesn't last too long when squished beneath roughly seven textbooks.

The gang took seats along the tree roots, with the leader taking the highest seat, right next to Malik.  He studied the Egyptian for a moment before pulling into his lunch and asking, "Want a hot dog?"

"No thanks," Malik mumbled, poking the banana and sweatdropping at the squishing sound it made.  "I don't eat meat."

There was a collective gasp from the gang, and one of them whispered, "Hr doesn't eat meat?"

"Well, he'd better learn fast," someone else commented. "No one says no to the boss."

"Yeah, well I'm someone, and I'm saying no." Malik glared at the leader of the gang. "I never asked for you to be here."

"Are you telling us to get lost?"

"In simple terms, yes.  I'm telling you to leave, _now_."

"Oh really?" The rest of the gang scattered as their leader jumped up and sped towards Malik.  He threw a punch at Malik's face, which the boy ducked.  The senior's hand thudded rather painfully into the tree trunk, and not missing a beat, Malik kicked out and hit his opponent in the stomach.  He gasped for breath suddenly and backed away, glaring at Malik as he caught his breath.  The Egyptian stood up slowly, also glaring.

"Fight!" someone called, but the two were too busy to notice.  Malik blocked a storm of jabs, but then got under his chin by an uppercut.  Crying out slightly in pain, he rushed the senior, ducked a punch, and slammed his adversary with a jab that effectively broke his nose.

Falling back a bit and wiping the blood away, the gang leader snarled, "Oh, that's it!" and dove for his bag, pulling out a Swiss Army knife.  Malik's eyes barely had time to widen before he had to jump back, and the blade sliced through his uniform and left a minor cut on his right side.  He scrambled to the left to avoid the knife, which was seeking any possible opening.

"Whatever happened to fairness?" the Egyptian demanded, and his opponent's lips curled up into a sneer.

" 'Fairness' went out the window two minutes ago," he growled, lunging forward again.  Malik backed away quickly, and in his haste, he tripped over a tree root.

Cursing himself inwardly for being so stupid, he was about to stand up again when a shadow loomed up over him.  Looking up, Malik couldn't help but gulp slightly as he saw his foe staring down on him.  The look on his face was _not_ pleasant.

"Whatever made you think you could challenge me?" the upperclassman hissed.  Shouts from the edge of the crowd that had gathered drew his attention, however, and he glanced up, then back down at Malik. "I'll have to make this fast.  The teachers are coming, and all they'll find is your beaten body." He raised the knife in a position to stab Malik, but the Egyptian reacted quickly, swinging his leg and tripping the other student.  The knife flew from his hand and embedded itself in one of the roots nearby.

Malik was back on his feet in a second.  "What was that about my beaten body?" he mocked.  The senior backed away as fast as he could while sitting down, but it wasn't fast enough.  Malik kicked him hard in the side of the head, and his opponent fell over, unconscious.

"That wasn't too much of a problem," he muttered.  "The guy acted tough, but…" Suddenly becoming aware of the increasingly loud shouts of the teachers, he made his way to the edge of the crowd.  The students backed away from him as fast as they could, clearing a pathway.  Just as he reached the edge, the teachers reached the scene of the fight, gasping slightly at what they found there.

As he walked away, Malik heard the principal say, "Look, he's waking up," followed by a groan. Then, "Young man, I'm afraid you are in some serious trouble.  You will undoubtedly be expelled for fighting and possession of weapons.  Now, tell us who it was you were fighting with."

Absolute silence from the crowd.  Malik had to chuckle slightly; they were all too scared of him to admit that he had done it.  As he walked away, he thought wryly, _'Some great first day this is.  Now the whole school thinks I'm a bully who'd beat them all up without a second thought.  Heh, if Isis knew, I'd be even more dead than a Zombie monster.'_

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The bell rang, and Yugi scrambled quickly out of his last period chemistry class.  He practically ran through the hallways, threading his way quickly through the crowds and out the back door.  He glanced around quickly; good, no one was here yet.  He sped for the tree and ducked around the trunk, heading for the hiding place he'd picked out during lunchtime earlier.  He slipped between two roots into a small cave under one of the roots.  It was a tight fit, but one that only Yugi could fit in, and one that no one else would ever find.

The boy grinned to himself.  It was the perfect spot.  There was no way Joey and Tristan could ever find him here.

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Malik walked slowly out of chemistry, the last one to leave.  Everyone in the hallway sent him scared looks and quickly cleared a path, but Malik ignored them.  Not like he cared what they thought, anyway.  He'd never actually beaten someone up before, but then again, there was little need for that in Egypt.  In Egypt, everyone was extremely polite, and they never forced things on you, unlike these stupid Japanese…

Malik looked up and almost banged straight into his locker.  There were a few snickers, and he turned around quickly to see everyone staring at him.  They quickly looked away, obviously not wanting to get on his bad side.  Emptying his books into his locker, he turned away and headed for the back door.  He was _tired_ of all the stares, tired of all the frightened looks that came from every direction…

He walked out the door and down the stairs, heading for the giant oak.  He moved to the far side, where no one could see him, and stared up at the leaves of the tree.  The sunlight shining through them left a dappled pattern on the ground, and Malik sighed lightly.  The people were much nicer in Egypt, but he had to admit, in some ways Japan was just as beautiful as his home country.

Malik was so absorbed by the soft wind and the rustling sounds the leaves made that he never noticed the pair of big violet eyes that peered out at him from between two tree roots.

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Ryou walked through the back doors of the school, heading for a pathway that curved around the tree and led through some shrubbery on the opposite end of the schoolyard.  He'd long ago learned that the path was a shortcut, leading him to a street that bisected the road the house was on.  He was about ten feet from the bushes when he sensed that someone was watching him.

Ryou whirled around quickly to see Malik, who was leaning against the tree trunk.  The fuchsia eyes were staring at him unblinkingly, and Ryou backed up a step, moving away as fast as he could without tripping over any tree roots.

Finally, Malik sighed and pushed himself away from the tree trunk.  "What's your hurry?" he asked Ryou.

"I, um, I… Well, I've got some chores I have to do at home!" Ryou laughed falsely as he said the first thing that came to mind.

Malik cocked his head.  "Really?" he asked mildly. "I'd heard that you lived alone."

"Uh, yeah, that's true, but I like to keep the place clean!" Ryou stammered, still backing away.  That was how he didn't notice the tree root until he stepped on it, and it broke under his weight, throwing him down into a tiny ditch…

…to land right on top of someone.  Someone let out a yelp, and Ryou looked down to see none other than Yugi, whose hair was now full of dirt, and whose chest was being sat on by Ryou.

"Hi, Yugi," the British boy said, blinking.  "What're you doing down there?"

"Will you _please_ get off me?" Yugi gasped.  Having someone sitting on him that weighed more than he did was _not_ pleasing him.

"Pardon?" Ryou asked.  Yugi glared at him, and he sweatdropped.  "Oh, sorry about that."  He stood up, and Yugi got up and brushed himself off.

"Thank you," the smaller boy snapped.  

Ryou blinked.  "Hey, I already said I'm sorry.  Are you okay?"

"Do you _think_ I'm okay?  I came here to get _away_ from people that would hurt me, and then you go and collapse my hiding place!" By this point, Yugi was close to tears.  If Joey and Tristan came…

"As interesting as it is to watch the two biggest pushovers in the school argue, I'd say it's kind of pointless," a dry voice commented.

Both Yugi and Ryou froze. "M-Malik!" Both of them had totally forgotten that the new guy was still there.

Malik smirked. "What, are you scared of me?  But then again, the whole school is, so I can't exactly blame you…"

"So the fight today wasn't your fault?"

"No, of course not!  I don't go around randomly starting fights!  He attacked me because I didn't-" Malik stopped short as a growling noise came from the bushes.  Malik glanced around and said slowly, "What was that?"

Yugi shrugged. "Just a dog.  What were you saying about you not starting the fight?"

"Umm… oh yeah.  I didn't want to take the hot dog he gave me because I don't eat meat so-" Malik was cut off again, this time by a roar.

"I don't think that's a dog!" Ryou yelped, staring behind them at the bushes, which were rustling.  Both Yugi and Malik whirled around, and their eyes widened at what they saw.

A monster with black fur and a gold mane was stalking towards them, tail swishing behind it as it growled.  It looked somewhat like a lion, except the last time they checked, lions weren't six feet tall.  And if the monster was big, its mouth was full of foot-long fangs.  Not good.

"It's a Leogun," Yugi breathed, adding unnecessarily, "A Duel Monster."

"Is it real?" Malik asked.

"No, probably just one of Kaiba's holograms."

Just then, the Leogun let out another roar and ran toward them, and hologram or not, the boys didn't want to become mincemeat.  They dove out of the way, and the long claws raked the trunk of the oak, leaving long, deep gashes.

"Somehow, I don't think that's a hologram!" Ryou yelled, dodging as the monster swiped at him again.

"Well, if it's not a hologram, WHAT IN THE NAME OF RA IS IT?" Malik cried.

"That's what we'd all like to know!" Yugi yelled back as the fangs barely missed his arm, tearing a piece of cloth off his uniform.  He was starting to wish he'd worked harder in P.E.

A few minutes and several close calls later, Yugi noticed that there was a method to the monster's attacks.  It seemed to be herding them into a group… he gasped as he realized what it was trying to do.  "Hey guys!  It's trying to corner us against the tree!"

"You JUST NOTICED?!?" Malik yelled back.  "If you have any brilliant ideas to stop it, then just say it!"

By this time, Ryou was backed up against the tree, his eyes widening as the Leogun approached him, growling happily that it had cornered its prey.  "Uh, guys?  A little help here?"

Yugi grabbed the first thing that came to hand: a rock about the size of his fist.  He threw it and it struck the monster on the head, but the huge lion didn't seem to notice or care.  It continued to slowly stalk towards Ryou, who seemed to be about to faint in terror.  Yugi grabbed his school bag next and threw it, and it somehow got caught in the monster's thick mane.  The Leogun roared and shook its head, making the bag fall it.  It glared at Yugi, who gulped, but then changed his mind and turned towards the prey that couldn't run.

It stopped about a foot from Ryou, opened its mouth, showed its fangs, and roared just to terrify his victim.  It worked.  Trembling, he sank to his knees, unable to tear his gaze away from the teeth.  "I do NOT want to be lion food!"

Luckily, he didn't have to.  A figure sprinted towards the Leogun, hitting it in the shoulder and springing back, landing on his feet.  "Hey, meat breath!" Malik yelled as the lion turned towards him, completely forgetting about Ryou.  "Why don't you pick on someone who'll actually fight back?"

The Leogun growled, leaping at Malik, who jumped to the side to avoid it.  "That the best you can do?" he mocked. "How'd you ever become a level five monster?"

Ryou scrambled away from the tree and towards Yugi, who was watching the whole scene unfold in shock.  "Someone tell me why we're not running?" he gasped.

Yugi sweatdropped.  "Good question.  But do you _really_ want to leave Malik alone like this?"

The monster jumped at Malik again, and the Egyptian dodged it again.  He was caught by surprise, however, when the Leogun's paw lashed out, hitting him square in the chest when he was still in midair.  He landed on the ground ten feet away and slid for about five more, finally hitting a root with a painful-sounding thump.

Now it was Malik's turn to be stalked by the Leogun.  He scrambled backward while still sitting down, the monster following lazily.  It obviously thought that there was no way Malik could get away.  He got up and ran, while the Leogun continued walking toward him at its leisure.

Ryou gasped.  "We've got to do something!"

"In case you haven't noticed, that thing doesn't get hurt by anything!" Yugi yelled, then paused.  "But maybe…" He reached for his deck and pulled out the first monster he found.  "Celtic Guardian!"

To everyone's surprise, it actually worked.  The swordsman stepped out of thin air and looked at Yugi, awaiting an order from his master.  Yugi gulped, then commanded, "Attack the Leogun!"

With a cry of its own, the elf sped towards the lion, brandishing its sword.  He struck it on its left side, leaving a foot-long gash.  The Leogun whirled and sank its fangs quickly into the Celtic Guardian, and Yugi's monster disappeared with a pained cry.

"Why…?"

"Its attack power was too low!" Malik yelled.  This seemed to draw the monster's attention back to its prey, and it once again turned toward Malik.  The Egyptian gasped and backed away, only to trip over a tree root.  His right hand hit something that stood up from the trunk about two inches, and he looked down.

A Swiss Army knife.  Just what he needed.  Maybe something good had come from his earlier fight after all.  Malik grabbed the handle and pulled, but nothing happened.  He groaned, realizing that the reason it had been left there was because no one could pull it out.  He glanced up and noticed that the Leogun had stopped about a meter away from him and was watching him warily, teeth bared in a ferocious grin.

Just then the monster pounced, leaping into the air and straight at Malik.  He ducked, and fear and the threat of death did what nothing else could.  It lent him strength, and somehow, miraculously, the knife came out of the wood.

The Leogun sailed inches over Malik's head, which was flat on the ground.  He brought the knife up, still clutching the handle with both hands, and plunged it deep into the lion's underside.  The monster, carried on by momentum, roared in pain as it felt the blade slice through its belly.  Black blood rained down onto him, blood which pixilated and disappeared as soon as it touched something solid, for which Malik was glad.  He didn't want to give Isis another reason to kill him.  He pulled the knife out and rolled to the side, just in time to avoid having his face crushed by one of the Leogun's back paws.

Jumping up, Malik ran panting back to where Yugi and Ryou stood, transfixed.  As soon as it had landed, the monster turned around to face them again, tail swishing.  It lifted one of its front paws and began licking the gash in its belly, stopping the bleeding.  It lifted its head once again, and within seconds, the cut closed up, leaving nothing but a pale scar.  The wound in its side that the Celtic Guardian had made had also healed.

"Oh no," Yugi breathed, just as Malik said, "That's no good."

"What now?" Ryou asked, staring at the Leogun.  It stared back at him, making the current situation a stalemate.

"I suggest we get out of here," Malik commented, "before it decides to try and eat us again."

"But what about the people who live near here?"

Malik cast Yugi a sideways glance.  "You just HAVE to play the hero, don't you?"

"Um, guys," Ryou began slowly, "I really hate to break it to you, but the Leogun's coming back!"

"Huh?" Both Malik and Yugi looked up, and then all three of them split off in different directions as fast as they could.  The monster roared and veered right, aiming to get at Yugi.  The boy yelped and ran faster, looking back over his shoulder at the lion, but it was gaining on him all the same.  It was only about five feet away from him when Ryou dashed forward, grabbed its mane, and pulled, trying to get it away from his friend.

It didn't exactly have the desired effect.  Not too happy with the little pest pulling on its mane, the Leogun roared and shook its head, with Ryou still clinging to it.  The result was that the white-haired boy went flying up into the air, only to land on the lion's back.  The monster turned its head and stared at Ryou, who grew suddenly wide-eyed.  "Oh no… oh no, no, nooo…" He drew his legs up just in time to avoid the Leogun's snapping jaws.  Having forgotten Yugi, the monster growled and proceeded to run around as fast as it could, attempting to shake Ryou off.  The British boy was clinging to the mane for dear life and noticed little else-that is, until it headed for the tree in an effort to crush him against the trunk.  "Uh oh… some help here?"

"Yugi, summon a monster!" Malik yelled, and the other boy looked at him questioningly.  Malik sighed. "You did it before, didn't you?  So just do it again!"

"Uh, right!" Yugi grabbed the next card in his deck and held it up.  "Summoned Skull!" Nothing happened.  "What?  Why didn't it work?"

"Yugi, Summoned Skull is a Tribute monster, and we don't have time for tributes!" Ryou yelled from where he was dangerously closed to falling off, thanks to the Leogun repeatedly bashing itself against the tree.

"So what, then?" Yugi demanded.

"So you summon a monster that's strong enough to beat Leogun without any sacrifices!"

"Oh, yeah… but I don't have many of those in my deck."

"Well then, START LOOKING!" Malik yelled, staring at Ryou anxiously.  The Swiss Army Knife was still gripped in his hand, but it would've been very hard to get a good shot at the monster without Ryou in the way.

"Um… let's see…"

"Hurry up, Yugi!" Ryou yelled, just as the Leogun rammed itself into the tree as hard as it could and sending him flying.  He cried out slightly as he landed, but all pain was forgotten as the monster loomed up before him.  "Um… nice kitty?"

The Leogun growled and shook its mane in response.  Ryou gulped.  "YUGI!!!  HELP!!!"

"Got one!" Yugi drew out a card as fast as he could and pointed it toward the Leogun. "Gemini Elf!  Attack!"

The twin elves appeared and flew toward the other monster as fast as they could.  The male struck first, hitting the lion in the side and backing away to let his sister strike.  She hit him square in the head, and the Leogun roared before bursting into a thousand pieces, just like in Kaiba's holographic simulators.  Having completed their job, the elves faded out of existence.

There was silence for a few minutes, with the three boys looking at each other and the place where the Leogun had been.  Finally, Ryou stood and walked over to the tree, running his hand over the claw marks that had been gouged in the wood.  He turned back to the others and asked simply, "So what now?"

Yugi opened his mouth to answer, but Malik beat him to it. "We forget about this, and never tell anyone what happened today," he said, glancing at the other two.

"But shouldn't we tell someone?  I mean, this is important." Yugi asked anxiously.

"What, are you crazy?!?  They'd think we lost our minds.  No, we're keeping this a secret.  This never happened.  Think it was a dream, forget about it totally, I don't care.  Just never, ever talk about this again, and that's final." Malik stated calmly, and without another word, he picked up his school bag and walked off, slipping the knife into his pocket.

Left alone, Yugi and Malik glanced at each other and shrugged.  Gathering up their stuff, they said a quiet goodbye, and they too left the schoolyard, trying to leave behind the memory of something which should never have happened.

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Whoo!  That's chapter one done!  Earlier and shorter than expected, too.  I forgot to apologize for the extreme longness of last chapter, if you didn't like it.  Seriously, it was only supposed to be half that long XD.  The rest will be shorter, but hopefully not this short.  As for the cards and decks, I gave up on making them accurate halfway through the duel in the prologue, but I'll try to keep them that way throughout this.  I don't think Yugi really has Gemini Elf, but he doesn't have any level 1-4 monsters with over 1750 attack.  And sorry if it focused too much on Malik, but I really couldn't help it.  He's the new kid, the tough guy, and he has to get into a couple fights in there!

Review!!!  Review!!!  Review!!!  Must… have… reviews…  They make me write faster!  C'mon, the yamis appear next chapter, and don't you want to see them?  So hit the pretty button down there and REVIEW!!!  I really wanna know what you think.  Flames will be used to make hot dogs, which will be handed out to the reviewers!


	3. Who Are YOU?

On to chapter two!  And I've actually come up with a plot for this story XD.  Anyways, hot dogs go to hobbitfeet13, HongMing (yes I know it's you), and Hikage Kitsune.  I'll probably have Yugi's personality change a little, so he won't be such a pushover later.  And I'm not putting the notes in again.  You should know them by now.  All I have to add is that *** signals a flashback.

Disclaimer: As much as I wish I owned Yu-Gi-Oh!, it'll never happen.  Never.  Unless Kazuki Takahashi gives it to me, which he won't.  All I own is Zake, who'll reappear next chapter, I think.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Two

Who Are YOU?!?

Yugi pulled his deck out of his pocket as he walked back to the Game Shop and flipped through it.  The incident with the Leogun was still clear in his mind, and he glanced up to see Malik, who was walking roughly fifty feet ahead of him and completely ignoring the shorter boy.  Yugi shrugged and went back to his cards.  _'Malik may want us to try and forget about all this, but I know it's real,'_ he thought to himself. _'Okay, maybe I _will _find that this is just a dream when I wake up, but for now it seems real enough.  And we've got to do something about it.'_ Yugi frowned at his cards.  If they were going to be fighting against any more real monsters, he'd have to modify his deck a bit.  After all, he doubted that cards that did damage to Life Points would be much use against monsters.  That, and he could use more high-attack non-sacrifice monsters.

Flipping through his deck, Yugi stopped when he came to the Celtic Guardian.  He wondered for a brief moment what would happen if he tried to summon it again; after all, it had been destroyed, hadn't it?  Or would it be like he had finished the duel with Leogun and simply started another one?  Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Yugi slipped into a side street and whispered, "Celtic Guardian!"

The elf appeared before him, sword held at the ready.  Finding no opponents, he turned to look quizzically at his master.  Yugi smiled apologetically.  "Sorry.  I just wanted to see if you would appear, since you got sent to the Graveyard when we were fighting the Leogun…" The monster nodded silently, and Yugi recalled him into the card.

"Well, that answers that question, then," he muttered to himself, walking back onto the main road.  Malik was waiting for him there, eyebrow raised.

"What do you think you're doing?" the Egyptian demanded.  Yugi shrank back a little from his gaze.

"Nothing," he stammered.  Malik gave him a long look before he turned and kept walking.  Before long, he was far ahead of Yugi again.

But with the revelation that the destruction of the opposing monster constituted the end of the "duel," Yugi found that he had many more questions.  Say he used Soul Exchange and sacrificed the opponent's monster to summon Curse of Dragon.  Would he be able to summon it again without any sacrifices the next time?  Well, there was no way of testing that out now.  He'd just have to wait until the next time.  Smiling wryly, he shook his head as he realized that he was kind of looking forward to the next attack.  As scary as it had been, it had also been kind of fun…

The rest of the walk home was uneventful.  Malik never even glanced at Yugi the whole way there; he just mumbled a quick goodbye as Yugi entered the door of the Kame Game Shop.

"Grandpa, I'm back," Yugi announced.  His grandfather looked up and smiled.

"Oh, Yugi, you're finally here.  We've just gotten a shipment of the new Duel Monsters expansion set.  It's supposed to come out tomorrow, you know, so could you unpack them?"

"Sure," Yugi answered, heading for the back room, and then he stopped as an idea came to him.  "Um, Grandpa, I know they're not supposed to be coming out until tomorrow, but could I buy some today?"

"Yugi, that wouldn't exactly be fair…"

"Please, Grandpa?" Yugi did his best puppy-dog eyes at the older man. "I'll pay for them, and it'll be good advertising if I show them off at school…"

"Hmm…" Suguroku Muto was obviously considering the idea.  "How many?"

"Just three."

"Three?  Well, alright then, but if anyone asks, you got them tomorrow morning…"

"All right!" Yugi said happily. "Thanks." He pulled the money out of his pocket, handed it to his grandfather, dashed into the back, and tore open one of the boxes.  Grabbing three booster packs, he plopped down on the couch and tore one open.  "Let's see… Harpie's Brother, Michizure, De-Spell, Ancient Elf, Backup Soldier, The Cheerful Coffin, Zone Eater, Rock Ogre Grotto #1, and… hmm, that might come in handy." He slipped Harpie's Brother, Michizure, The Cheerful Coffin, and the last card into his deck.  Glancing at the other two booster packs, he hesitated before slipping them into his backpack.  Ryou and Malik might want them, if they'd actually admit that the Leogun was real…

An hour later, Grandpa called to Yugi to come and man the counter for him, while he organized some of the new shipments.  Nothing interesting happened for the first few minutes, except for a few customers buying Duel Monster cards every now and then.  It was when the bell above the door rang for the fourth time that something caught Yugi's attention.

"Welcome to the Kame Game Shop.  How can I…" Yugi's voice died out as he stared at the person who had just entered.  He looked almost exactly like Yugi himself, except for a few streaks of golden hair, a few more inches of height, and violet eyes that were a shade darker and narrower than his own.

"How can you help me?" the stranger asked in a deep, confident voice.  Yugi nodded, and the man smiled. "My name is Yami, and I'd like to have a private discussion with you as soon as you have the time."

So it was that, a few minutes later, Yugi was sitting on the couch, staring at Yami.  The Pharaoh looked at him for a long moment until Yugi felt obliged to talk.

"Um… so what is it that you want from me?"

"Your name would be nice," Yami said calmly. "That, and the date."

"Oh." Yugi felt his cheeks flush. "I'm Yugi, and today's November 27th."

"What year?" Yami asked.

_'What a weirdo.'_ "2003, of course."

"2003…" Yami looked thoughtful. "Tell me, how long ago was the eighteenth dynasty in Egypt?"

"Eighteenth dynasty?  What is this, a history quiz?" Seeing how serious Yami was looking, Yugi thought for a minute about the answer.  Luckily, they'd just been doing ancient Egypt in history. "The eighteenth dynasty… I don't know.  A few thousand years ago, maybe?"

"Five thousand years ago?"

"Might be… yeah.  I think so."

"Right." Yami looked at Yugi calmly. "Because I'm a Pharaoh from that time period, and something was supposed to happen five thousand years after the spell… and I have the feeling that the time has come."

"You're a Pharaoh… right." _'Either he's crazy, I'm crazy, or this is a dream.'_ Yugi pinched himself hard just to make sure and winced. _'Nope, no dream.  Oh well.  Might as well go along with it.'_

"So, uh… what is it you want me to do?"

"I can tell you don't believe me," the so-called Pharaoh stated. "I'll explain as soon as we find my friends."

"Your… friends?"

"Yes.  Their names are Bakura and Marik… and they should already be here, somewhere in this country."

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"Go home and forget about everything that just happened… right," Ryou muttered to himself as he walked home. "Oh, like I'd really just forget about a huge lion attacking us in the back yard of school… well, I suppose it's better than a Blue-Eyes.  Almost anything's better than being dragon food."

"So now what?" he asked the sky, staring at the clouds as he walked along the sidewalk. "Should I really try and forget what happened?  I really wish this was just a dream, but it doesn't feel like one… Maybe I really should tell someone.  But who?  No one would believe me…" People were already giving him strange looks, and Ryou snorted as he imagined what would happen if he tried to tell someone important.  _'Mr. Prime Minister, I'm really sorry to bother you, but I was attacked by a huge Duel Monster and it wasn't one of Kaiba's holograms… it was real… it tried to kill me and my friends… What?  Have I ever had any hallucinations?  No… and I'm not wearing a straitjacket either!'_ Ryou rolled his eyes.  Oh, that would work well.  Very well indeed.  And about the only proof they had were three slash marks on the side of a tree, but those could be attributed to almost anything, most probably the knife-fight that Malik had managed to get himself into.

"So then, the only option left is to wake up tomorrow and find out that it was just a dream," Ryou sighed.  Fat chance of that happening.  He'd talk to Malik and Yugi again at school, see what they thought they should do… If Malik would actually admit that it was real…

Ryou finally turned onto the street that his house was on, and he smiled happily as he spotted his home.  Now that he was this close, he knew nothing else could possibly happen.  He could just relax, try to forget about the Leogun, do some homework, and then talk to Malik and Yugi tomorrow…

The British boy all but skipped up the stairs to his front door, inserting his key and turning the lock.  It was surprisingly dark inside, considering that it was only about 2:30, and Ryou reached for the light switch and flipped it on.  Dumping his backpack in the closet next to the door, he headed down the hallway towards the kitchen when a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"And where are _you_ going in such a hurry?" a voice purred. " 'Bout time you got here, too.  I was starting to get impatient."

Ryou spun around quickly to see someone leaning against the wall next to the door… a someone who looked almost exactly like him.  Brown eyes regarded the modern teenager coolly as their owner smirked.  Pushing himself up from against the wall, he said, "Well, I suppose I should welcome you back first, so welcome home.  Now… on to the next order of business…" The man reached for his back pocket, and a knife clattered to the floor.  The intruder blinked as he bent to pick it up. "Whoops… didn't mean to drop that…" He picked up the blade and turned around, just in time to see Ryou collapse in a dead faint.

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Malik turned the key in the lock of the front door of his home, fully intending to go upstairs and sleep to try and forget what had just happened.  And skip everything else he had to do, of course.  Screw his homework.

Of course, the first thing he heard when he entered the house was Isis' voice.  "How was school?" she asked, coming in from the kitchen.  "Do you have any homework?"

"Fine," Malik grumbled. "And no, no homework." Forget the fact that he had something for every class.

"Oh really?" Isis raised an eyebrow. "Give me your backpack." Complaining, Malik complied.  His sister riffled through it quickly, then looked up at him. "Malik, you have plenty of homework.  Go upstairs and do it." 

"I-_sis_…"

"What happened to your jacket?" his sister interrupted.  Malik looked down and sweatdropped, noticing for the first time the rip in his uniform from his fight against the senior.

"Umm…"

Isis sighed and shook her head.  "Fine, _don't_ tell me.  Just go and do your homework, and I'll fix it later."

Too annoyed to argue, Malik just grabbed his bag and headed upstairs.  Isis called after him, "Oh, by the way, a friend of yours is upstairs in your room waiting for you." Malik wondered who it was for a split second, then dismissed it from his mind.  By the time he reached the top of the stairs, he had completely forgotten about his visitor.  His mind was instead occupied with thoughts of the Leogun.  Opening the door to his room, he received quite a surprise when he noticed the person sitting on his bed.

"Who… who are you?" he sputtered, staring at the man, who was only about a year older than him.  The other teen raised an eyebrow.

"Malik Ishtar.  I've been wanting to meet you.  Took you long enough to get here." The ancient Egyptian stood up in a single fluid motion and walked over to Malik.  "My name's Marik.  Might be a bit hard to believe, but I'm one of your ancestors… but what need to worry most about now is your future."

Malik took a step back, trying to escape from the harsh fuchsia eyes that were the mirror image of his own. "My… future?  What's that got anything to do with you?"

"Everything," Marik answered, still staring intently at the younger boy. "Because I need your help."

"My help?  Why do you need _me_?"

Marik smirked. "Well, after all, three ancient spirits can't save the world by themselves.  So whaddya say?" Not having much of a choice in the matter, Malik nodded. "Good.  We can start by looking for a few 'friends' of mine…"

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_"Hey, kid.  Hey, wake up.  I said, _WAKE UP!"

Ryou jerked awake because of the voice yelling in his ear.  "Huh?  What?"

"So now you're awake," someone sighed. "What got you so scared in the first place?"

The British boy looked up and found that he was lying on the floor, with the strange man kneeling over him.  The knife was nowhere to be seen, which only served to worry him more.  Ryou yelped and backed away as fast as he could.  The man raised an eyebrow.

"Calm down.  It's not like I'm going to bite."

"Who-who are you?"

"My name's Bakura," the tomb robber said off-handedly. "And you are…?"

"Ryou.  Ryou Bakura." The two stared at each other for a moment.

"That's just weird." Bakura muttered.  Ryou nodded agreement. "Anyway," the thief continued briskly, "on to more important things.  Has anything strange been happening lately?"

_'You mean OTHER than us being attacked by a real-life gigantic Duel Monster?'_ "No, nothing strange."

"Really?" Bakura regarded Ryou for a second, then shrugged.  "Whatever.  If anything weird happens, just tell me."

"Like what?"

"Like, say…" the tomb robber seemed to be deep in thought. "Someone you know is acting completely out of character.  Mysterious deaths.  Monsters popping up out of nowhere." Ryou choked at the last one, and Bakura looked at him curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Ryou answered. "Are you a detective or something?  Why would you want to know?"

Bakura smiled mysteriously. "Oh, it's just that I always find myself involved in these things.  Say, if you meet some friends of mine, can you tell them I said hi?"

"Sure.  What do they look like?"

"Well, let's see… one has spiky black hair tipped with red, blond bangs, and violet eyes, and the other has light blond hair and fuchsia eyes…"

"Sounds like people I know," Ryou remarked, thinking of Yugi and Malik.

"Believe me, you've never seen them before," Bakura laughed, then grew serious.  "If you see them, tell them I said that it's happening again.  We need to stop it, and quick, before the seal wears off completely."

Ryou was beginning to feel uneasy. "Seal?  What seal?"

"The seal that keeps the evil we fought long ago locked away… the seal to the Shadow Realm."

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The next day, Yugi arrived at school without seeing Malik; apparently, the Egyptian liked being almost late.  He approached the classroom and snuck a glance inside the door.  Seeing neither Joey nor Tristan, he decided it was safe to go in.  He slipped inside quietly… only to be lifted up by the collar.  Yugi winced.  Oh boy.  Here it comes.

A harsh slap on the cheek forced Yugi to open his eyes, only to find himself staring at an angry Tristan.  "You weren't there yesterday," he hissed, punching the smaller boy in the gut.  Yugi cried out slightly and noticed that the whole class was watching, including Ryou, who had a sympathetic look in his eyes.  For a brief moment, he thought of the Leogun, but quickly forgot about it once Joey appeared in his line of vision.  He looked even angrier than Tristan, if that was at all possible.  And Yugi had learned a long time ago that Joey hit very, very hard when he was angry.

"You should know better than to skip out on your lessons," Joey said casually, but his eyes were aflame with fury. "After all, we don't want detention, do we?"  He drew back his fist, ready to punch Yugi in the nose, and Yugi squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation.

There was a loud smack as fist hit flesh, but it wasn't Yugi that was in pain.  The short boy opened his eyes when Joey cried out, and found the bully on the ground, clutching at his eye.  Yugi glanced to his right to see Malik, who looked even angrier than Joey.  Yugi winced.  He didn't want to be on the receiving end of that punch.

"Didn't you learn your lesson yesterday?" Malik asked Joey and Tristan, his voice deadly calm. "You do not pick on him or anyone else weaker than you, unless you _want_ to be beaten up?"

Joey and Tristan shared a quick glance before scampering to their seats.  "Thanks," Yugi whispered to Malik, who just nodded and headed towards his desk, Yugi trailing along behind.  A few minutes later, Yugi spoke up.

"Malik?"

"Hmm?"

"Why'd you do it?"

Malik looked down at the smaller boy for a moment, then turned away without answering.

Yugi was silent for a moment before he whispered quietly, "It really happened, didn't it?"

Malik looked slightly sad. "Yes.  It did.  Now the only question is, what do we do about it?"

Ryou, who had been listening in to the conversation from his place beside Malik, wondered for a second what exactly had caused this change of heart.  Something must have happened yesterday… his thoughts were drawn back to Bakura and what the tomb robber had said.  Yes, his friends probably _did_ look a lot like Yugi and Malik, but what if it wasn't just coincidence?  Should he tell them about his unexpected guest?

None of them had any more time to ponder their many questions, as the teacher entered the room at that moment and ordered the class to settle down.  Ryou sighed and made a mental note to talk to the other two at lunch.  Maybe there was some way they could sort this out if they shared their thoughts with each other.

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Four periods later, they met in the cafeteria and took seats at the same table in unspoken agreement.  They didn't speak for a while; none of them knew exactly what to say.  After a short pause, Yugi pulled his lunch out and started eating, and Malik and Ryou followed suit.

As Malik pulled his lunch out of his backpack, Ryou caught a glimpse of something that looked slightly familiar.  Realizing what it was, he gulped slightly, then said slowly, "Malik, is that what I think it is?"

"What?" Malik asked, looking down just as the Swiss Army Knife fell out of his bag.  He quickly picked it up, looking around to see if anyone noticed, then stuffed it back into his bag.  "Oh.  Yeah."

"You carry a _knife_ with you to school?" Yugi hissed.

"After what happened yesterday, you think I wouldn't?"

"But Malik, you could get expelled!" Ryou said worriedly.

"Doesn't matter.  There're more important things we have to worry about anyway," Malik looked around to see if anyone was listening before leaning in and facing the other two.  "What do you think happened yesterday?"

"I don't know," Yugi said. "I don't get it… Duel Monsters aren't supposed to be real, so what happened?"

"Maybe Kaiba was experimenting with his holographic systems yesterday, and something went wrong," Ryou suggested.

"That's about the only explanation that makes any sense," Malik muttered. "It's not like card games come to life every day."

"Maybe Duel Monsters isn't just an ordinary card game," Yugi said thoughtfully. "Maybe, at one point, it was actually real." He didn't tell the other two, but he was thinking about what Yami had told him.  If it was the truth, it could explain quite a lot.

Malik snorted. "Yeah right.  I don't see any dragon footprints anywhere, do you?  And the last time I checked, there haven't been any Tomozaur fossils in existence.  What're the chances that they actually existed at one point?"

"Maybe they did, and someone somehow managed to get rid of them and destroy all the evidence," Ryou said. "We could ask one of them…?"

"That's assuming they can talk," Malik pointed out. "One of you can ask the monsters themselves, and I can go talk to Kaiba."

Yugi sweatdropped. "You obviously haven't heard about what he's like.  He has more of a reputation than even you do."

Malik shrugged. "Yeah, well, he's been here longer.  Anyone know where he might be after school?"

"He always drives off in a limo," Ryou said. "I've heard he goes to Kaiba Land to work on new attractions, but that place has been closed for about a week.  No one's allowed to go in, and no one knows why it closed so suddenly.  It just… did."

"You could go to Kaiba Corp," Yugi suggested.  "He'll probably be there, since he's obsessed with his work."

"All right then," Malik said.  "Just one question: where is Kaiba Corp?"

Ryou sweatdropped. "Only the biggest skyscraper in the city with the KC logo on the side."

"Ah.  Got it."

"Tomorrow's a Saturday.  How about we meet at the park at 10:00 and tell each other what we found out?" Ryou asked.

The other two nodded, and as the bell rang, they grabbed their bags and headed off to class, putting off all thoughts of Duel Monsters and holograms till after school.

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Dashing through the door of the Game Shop, Yugi said a quick hello to his grandfather before running up the stairs.  He deposited his bag on the couch and took out his deck, just as Yami entered the living room.

"Yugi, what are you doing?" he asked, looking over the shorter boy's shoulder.  The Pharaoh froze just as he realized what the teenager was holding. "Are those… Duel Monsters cards?"

"Yeah," Yugi replied, not looking up. "My friends and I want to test something out." Finding a suitable level four monster, he grabbed the card and held it up. "Mystical Elf!"

Yami gasped as the monster appeared, his eyes narrowing slightly. _'So it's started already, and this boy has something to do with it…'_

"Umm, well… I have some questions to ask you," Yugi began, rubbing the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion. "I guess we could start with: are you and the other Duel Monsters we summon really… well, real?"

The elf nodded.  Yugi sighed. "Well, that proves it, then.  How about, where do you come from?" The Mystical Elf just stared at him.  Yugi sweatdropped.  "Okay then, next question.  I kinda want to know how exactly you appear in this world…" No answer.  Yugi's sweatdrop grew bigger. "Do you even talk?"

The monster shook her head.  Yugi smacked his forehead. "Well, that was a complete waste of time," he muttered, recalling the Mystical Elf back into her card. "I just hope Malik has better luck."

Yami stood staring at Yugi. "Yugi… since when have you been able to summon real monsters like that?"

"I dunno… the first time I really tried was yesterday, and that's 'cause we were attacked by a Leogun.  Why?  Do you have something to do with it?" Yugi asked, cocking his head.

Yami sighed. "I'm afraid so.  Who else was there with you yesterday?"

"Malik and Ryou from class.  Can you tell me what's going on?"

"Well, Yugi, it's a really long story, and if your friends want to hear it too, it would be better if I tell them at the same time." Yami said slowly.

"We're meeting at the park tomorrow to talk about this." Yugi said. "You can come too, if you want.  I'm sure they'll want to hear what you have to say.  And there's a chance they can help you find your friends."

Yami was silent for a moment before he smiled. "All right, then.  I have a feeling we're all tied up in this anyway."

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Malik stood, looking up at the giant monolith that was Kaiba Corporation. "Geez… this thing could probably be seen fifty miles from here, if you looked hard enough," he muttered. "And what do you want to bet the CEO's office is on the top floor?" Shrugging, he walked through the double doors.

Going up to the receptionist, he cleared his throat to get her attention. "Excuse me… I need to speak to Seto Kaiba.  It's important."

The woman didn't even look up from her computer. "I'm sorry, but you can't see Mr. Kaiba without a valid reason or an appointment.  You'll have to come back later."

Malik sighed.  Time to do this the hard (but fun) way. "Listen up, lady," he growled in a tone that caught the receptionist's attention, forcing her to look up.  Even though he was leaning casually on the desk, her eyes widened at the feral look in the teenager's eyes, as well as his steely voice. "You tell your 'Mr. Kaiba' that someone wants to see him about his holographic technology, and that it can't wait.  Make sure you mention that, if he chooses not to meet with me, Malik Ishtar will wipe the floor with him at school on Monday."

The receptionist gulped, nodded quickly, and turned on the intercom.  She repeated Malik's message exactly, though she hesitated slightly before the threat.  The slightly maniacal grin on the Egyptian's face forced her to do it anyway, at the risk of losing her job.

"Tell him to come on up right away," Kaiba's voice said calmly.  Malik smiled.

"Whaddya know, he wants to talk to me after all." he said casually. "Thank you _so_ much for getting ahold of him for me." With that, he walked off toward the elevator, leaving the receptionist to wonder why she ever applied for this job.

The CEO was waiting for him at the top. "So you think you can threaten me?" he asked his classmate.

Malik smirked. "Well, yes, I can _threaten_ you, but I'm not sure I can beat you." he said flippantly, sitting down and propping his legs up on the desk. "Your receptionist is rather… demanding, did you know that?"

Kaiba gave him his usual cold smile. "Well, yes.  That's why I hired her.  Now," he said, suddenly businesslike, "you said this had something to do with my holographic technology, correct?"

"Yes.  I was just wondering whether there were any… ah… _unusual_ side effects of the stuff you're just testing out now?" Malik said, choosing his words carefully.

Kaiba regarded him emotionlessly. "What kind of side effects?"

"Oh, you know, nothing serious.  Just… monsters escaping from the arena and running loose, that sort of thing."

"Now why would that be happening?" Kaiba asked. "Are you saying you had a run-in with a wild Duel Monster?"

"…something like that."

"Well, Mr. Ishtar," Kaiba began, "I can assure you that nothing of that sort has been happening lately.  The bugs in the system have nothing to do with losing control of the monsters; and even if they did, these monsters are just holograms.  When they move out of the range of the projectors, they will simply disappear and cease to exist."

"I see." Malik mused. "So there's no chance of there being any wild monsters running around?"

Kaiba chuckled dryly. "Not until we manage to design holograms that don't need projectors, or until we can make satellites with the ability to project that far.  And I can assure you, it may take a few more years until we manage to do that."

Malik sighed. "All right," he said, standing up. "Thank you for your time." The doors of the elevator closed behind him, Kaiba staring thoughtfully at his back.

"He is one of the six we will have to face." a voice said from the shadows of the office. "He is your enemy.  You could have tricked him with lies and deceit."

"Shut up." Kaiba said, turning towards the voice. "I don't care about who your enemies are.  I told you, I don't want any part in your crazy plans."

A deep chuckle issued from the shadows, and an exact look-alike of Seto Kaiba stepped out. "Oh, but you'll be dragged into them anyway," he crooned.  "I'll see you later." And with a swish of his High Priest robes, he was gone, leaving Kaiba deep in thought.

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"Bakura!" Ryou yelled as soon as he entered his house. "Bakura, where are you?"

He found the tomb robber in the kitchen, rummaging through the refrigerator.  Bakura looked up as soon as Ryou entered. "You don't have any meat," he said plaintively.

"Yes we do," Ryou said, pointing. "Leftover chicken."

Bakura pouted. "I meant, you don't have any _raw_ meat."

Ryou sweatdropped. "I don't think I want to know…" Bakura just grinned.  Ryou rolled his eyes and continued, "Anyway, I wanted to tell you something.  You know when you asked me if something strange happened?"

"Oh, so something _did_ happen!" the thief cried. "So what was it?"

"Well, yesterday a Duel Monster attacked me and two friends of mine while we were at school."

All of Bakura's attention immediately snapped to Ryou. "What?!?  Why didn't you tell me this before?!?"

"Malik told us to forget all about it," Ryou said matter-of-factly. "Besides, the whole thing felt like a hallucination.  Anyway, remember when you said you were looking for your friends and I told you that I knew two people who looked like that?  They were the ones who were with me yesterday.  I'm meeting them tomorrow, so if you want to come…"

Bakura considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure, why not?  It's not like I have anything else to do."

There was a slight pause, and then Ryou asked, "That Shadow Realm place you mentioned yesterday… does it have something to do with that Duel Monster?"

"You could say that…"

"Well, could you tell us?  I mean, that's what we're meeting for.  We want to find out what's going on."

Bakura smirked. "If you want to find out, you'll have to wait 'till tomorrow.  Oh… and get me some meat, too, please.  Raw."

Ryou shook his head. "Fine," he mumbled, wondering about the strange tastes of his "visitor" as he walked out the door.

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Marik was sitting on the couch and watching TV as Malik walked through the front door. "Well?  Why're you late?" he asked without preamble.

"Had to talk to someone about something that happened yesterday," Malik muttered vaguely.  He glared at Marik. "Remind me why you're still here?"

Marik shrugged. "Because we haven't found my friends yet," he answered.

"Why am I looking for your friends anyway?  Couldn't you just find them yourself?"

"I've got better things to do," Marik said, grabbing the remote and showing off his recently-gained channel-surfing skills. "Besides, it's so much more fun to make you do it."

Malik rolled his eyes. "Whatever.  But how am I supposed to know who your friends are?"

"Well, for one thing, they know nothing about this tech-no-whatever stuff you have-"

"Technology," Malik corrected.  Marik nodded.

"Yeah, that.  Anyway, if you see anyone walking onto one of your roads in front of one of those-technologies-you can be pretty sure it's them."

"They're called cars," Malik grumbled.  Marik didn't answer, and Malik looked up to notice that the spirit was busy staring at a woman on the screen.  Tick marks began to appear on his face. "Hey!  Marik!  Are you listening to me?!?"

"No," Marik answered.  Malik stole the remote and hit him over the head with it.

"Fine," he grumbled. "If you don't want to find your friends, that's okay with me."

"What?" Marik snapped, grabbing Malik by the collar. "What did you find out about them?"

"Nothing really," the younger Egyptian answered calmly. "It's just that, if you're really as old as you say you are, you could help us with a little problem we're having…"

"And why should I help you?"

Malik grinned. "Easy.  You help us, we help you.  Who knows, you might even manage to find your friends without meeting them in the hospital after being hit by one of our 'technologies.' "

Marik let go of Malik's collar and turned back to the TV. "Fine," he grumbled.  After a short pause, he added, "And they're called cars."

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"Seto?" a high-pitched voice asked, startling Kaiba out of his reverie.  He looked down to see his little brother staring up at him.

"Mokuba?  What're you doing here?  You should be at school."

"It's over," Mokuba pointed out. "It has been for half an hour now."

Kaiba blinked as he looked at the clock and realized that Mokuba was right.  He'd spent thirty minutes just thinking about what that Malik kid had said?

"Seto, when are you going to open Kaiba Land again?" the younger boy asked. "You haven't even started the repairs yet, and a lot of the kids are getting really bored without it being open…"

"It'll reopen soon," Kaiba said absently. "As soon as I figure this whole thing out…"

"What whole thing?" Mokuba asked. "Seto, you haven't even told _me_ what did the damage…"

Kaiba gave his younger brother one of his rare true smiles. "Don't worry about it, Mokuba.  It doesn't concern you."

"Are you sure?  You seem pretty worried about it…"

"Don't worry," Kaiba repeated, his mind drifting back to that day one week ago…

***Begin Flashback***

_Kaiba Land, Domino City_

_November 20, 2003, 9:00 PM_

One hour after closing time, no one was left in the amusement park known as Kaiba Land, except for the people who were left behind to clean up the trash left by the day's crowd.  One janitor in particular, a man about fifty years old, was sweeping near the control booth by the Blue-Eyes White Dragon roller coaster, one of the more popular rides.  He heard a noise behind him and whirled around, only to see a Turtle Bird standing behind him.  He smiled in relief, remembering that people were hired to dress up as Duel Monsters, and that the Turtle Bird was probably the kid who had been hired just this morning.

"Hi," he greeted the "monster." "I heard a noise behind me and I thought I really had something to worry about…" His voice died out as it lunged at him, jumping backward just in time to avoid being cut by the teeth-teeth that screeched loudly against the pavement as they hit.

Acting quickly, the janitor hit the intercom on the control booth, speaking frantically for all of Kaiba Land and the control center at Kaiba Corp to hear. "I know this might sound weird, but there's a REAL LIVE Turtle Bird attacking me near the Blue-Eyes coaster and-" the rest of his sentence was cut off as the monster's teeth bit into the machinery, turning the rest of the message to static before the control booth exploded.  The man dropped the broom and ran out of their as fast as he could, leaving the Turtle Bird tearing into the roller coaster tracks.

Kaiba heard the message from the outskirts of the park, where he was climbing into the limousine. "Nonsense," he muttered to himself. "Why would there be a real Duel Monster here anyway?" An explosion caused him to turn around, just in time to see one of the roller coaster cars, fashioned after a Blue-Eyes, fall fifty feet to crash into the ground.  A shape that looked liked a flying turtle soared away from the wreckage, heading toward the indoor dueling arenas.

Kaiba growled. "This is _ridiculous_!" Jumping out of the limo, he raced back into the park, nimbly climbing over the closed gates and heading for the building.  He got there just as the Turtle Bird was destroying the fifth arena.

"Hold it!" he cried.  The monster turned around and deemed him of little interest before it went back to tearing up the holographic projectors.

"I said, _hold it_!" Without even knowing he did it, Kaiba withdrew the Lord of Dragons from his deck and held it up.  To his everlasting surprise, the monster appeared.  Its battle cry caught the Turtle Bird's attention, and the wild monster turned around.  Now that it had an opponent to face, things were about to get a lot more interesting.

The turtle/bird combination zoomed towards Kaiba's monster, who dodged it quickly.  It came back for another attack, and this time, the spellcaster was bitten in the arm by the opposing monster.

Kaiba gritted his teeth.  He knew about this monster; with 1900 attack, it could easily destroy his Lord of D.  He'd have to try something else.  Drawing out his deck, the top card caught his attention: as usual, it was none other than the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.  And the card below it was…

Kaiba gave the Turtle Bird his trademark smug grin. "I'll play The Flute of Summoning Dragon to Special Summon my Blue-Eyes!" The flute appeared in the Lord of Dragons' hands; the spellcaster started playing it rapidly and the Blue-Eyes appeared, screeching to announce its presence.  And not a moment too soon; as soon as the Blue-Eyes materialized, the Turtle Bird's teeth finally connected and sent the Lord of Dragons to the Graveyard.  But Kaiba didn't care about that now.

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!  White Lightning Attack!" The gigantic dragon roared, unleashing its fury on the Turtle Bird.  The other monster screamed for an instant and disappeared.  The power of the attack blasted a hole through two floors of dueling arenas, and the ceiling started collapsing, raining down in a shower of dust and plaster.  Getting out of there wasn't one of Kaiba's priorities, however, as he stared at the spot where the Turtle Bird had been, his eyes dark.

The Blue-Eyes disappeared slowly, going back to its card, and finally a hint of smile appeared on Kaiba's face. "Remember this," he said. "To anyone else who dares challenge the might of my company, remember that no one gets the better of Seto Kaiba."

"Seto Kaiba, hmm?" a voice asked from near what remained of the dueling platform. "Not bad.  Of course, what else could I expect from a relative of mine?"

"Relative?" Kaiba repeated. "The only living person I'm related to is Mokuba."

The person stepped into Kaiba's view, and the CEO gasped as he realized who this person resembled. "You-you're-"

The man smirked. "No, I'm not you.  My name is Seth.  Seto, I believe that you will be integral to helping me get what I want…"

"Not interested," Seto replied flatly. "I only work for myself."

Seth chuckled. "Oh, but you'll be helping me whether you like it or not." He turned away and was gone.

***End Flashback***

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*measures chapter with a tape ruler* …that'll do for now.  I was hoping to get this up earlier, but blame it on an evilevil cold for two days of Thanksgiving break.  But I still managed to get it up in November!  The real fun starts next chapter, but what else could you expect with Yami and Bakura in the same… um… city?  Chapters will hopefully become longer than this at that point.  I don't have much to say in the beginning.

REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!!!!  Reviews are good, make me write faster! (Believe me, it took me like five months to do the prologue XD) Flames will be used to burn evilevil homework!  Oh, and also to roast chestnuts over an open fire, that stuff.  Reviewers get the chestnuts!

Oh, and the first person that can figure out what Yugi's "mystery card" is (y'know, the last one in the booster pack), they get… umm… I'll think about that.  A plushie of their favorite character chibified.  Or a statue of the character, made of sugar cubes.  Or both.  And since there are like thousands of Duel Monsters cards out there, you get a hint! (ooh, a hint) Hint: Yugi's deck is exactly the same as when his grandfather gave it to him (C'mon, it's easy if you think about it).  Okay, remember to review!


	4. The Meeting in the Park

Chapter three!  Whee!  I'm actually getting somewhere!  Anyway… *hands out roasted chestnuts to HongMing, hobbitfeet13, and Hikage Kitsune* And no, the "mystery card" isn't the Dark Magician.  There's another hint at the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh!  Not.  Mine. Unfortunately.  All I own is a bunch of cards, including my pretty pretty promo Red-Eyes.  *huggles Red-Eyes* And I don't own Cheerios, either.  Or BMW.  Or any brand-name stuff in this whole story.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Three

The Meeting in the Park

"Yami!  Yami, wake up!" The Egyptian pharaoh awoke to someone screaming in his ear.  Rubbing his eyes, he sat up to see Yugi kneeling on the foot of his bed.

"What is it, Yugi?" Yami asked, yawning. "Can't it wait?  I'm tired…"

Yugi gave him a curious look.  "Yami, it's time for us to go to the park.  Don't tell me you forgot?"

"No, I just don't like getting only two hours of sleep."

Yugi shrugged. "It's your fault for staying up that late on that dueling site."

Yami couldn't help but smirk in response. "Oh, but it's nice to be able to beat some of the better players around the world.  I guess I haven't lost my touch.  Besides, that 'computer' thing is actually fun.  I found some sites with interesting pictures…"

Yugi slapped his forehead, guessing what the pictures showed. "Yami!  If Grandpa checks the computer history…"

"Don't be so worried.  _He_ showed them to _me_."

Yugi sighed. "Whatever.  Just hurry up and get ready.  We're supposed to meet Ryou and Malik in the park in half an hour, and the bus leaves in fifteen minutes."

Yami gave Yugi a strange look. "What's a bus?"

The teenager facefaulted. "It's… um… a machine.  We go inside, and we pay the person driving it, and it takes us where we want to go."

"We go _inside_?" Yami asked.  Yugi nodded.  The Pharaoh sighed.  "In Egypt, the common people almost never rode inside… things.  Imagine, riding inside a camel… Oh, by the way, what's a machine?"

"Well… it's made of metal, and has all of these really complicated parts that make it work, and it runs on electricity and gas…" Seeing the completely confused look on Yami's face, Yugi sweatdropped. "Never mind."

"I'll never get used to your technology stuff…" Yami walked over to the closet and opened it.  Seeing what was inside, he sweatdropped. "Yugi, am I supposed to wear these things?"

Yugi wandered over to him. "Yeah.  Everyone dresses like that now."

Yami grabbed a black Dark Magician shirt out of the closet, then sweatdropped again. "Um, problem…"

"What is it?"

Yami gave Yugi a sideways look. "All of your clothes are at least two sizes too small for me." He fell to the ground, laughing, as Yugi pounced on him and proceeded to punch him in the stomach playfully.

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Marik awoke as he was being dragged out of bed by his extra-spiky hair. "Ow!  Who the-" He stopped as he caught sight of the culprit. "Malik!  What was that for?"

"It's time to go, oh ancient-Egyptian-spirit-who-claims-to-be-my-ancestor." Malik said matter-of-factly. "Don't want to be late, do we?"

"Guess not." Marik grumbled, rubbing his head. "But why my hair?"

"Because you stole my bed." Malik answered. "I had to sleep on the floor."

"Get used to it." Marik shot back. "When are we meeting your friends?"

Malik checked his watch. "Half an hour.  Hurry up and eat.  We're going there on my motorcycle."

Marik gave him a strange look. "A motorcycle.  What're those again?"

An evil grin spread slowly over Malik's face. "You'll soon find out."

"I don't like the sound of that." Marik muttered. "What's for breakfast?"

"Cereal." Malik answered. "Honey Nut Cheerios.  Sorry, we don't serve anything that's been around as long as you have."

Marik gave the teenager a sideways glance. "Are you _trying_ to make me feel old?" Malik just laughed.

A few minutes later, Marik was to be found staring at the bowl of Cheerios and milk before him. "They float," he said in complete disbelief. "These… cereals… they _float_."

Malik glanced at him. "Yeah, so?" he asked between mouthfuls. "What, not used to having foods soaked in liquid?"

Marik shook his head. "No… it was mostly dry, maybe with a bit of wine on the side."

"Underage drinking." Malik muttered under his breath.  Marik shot him a questioning look, and Malik shook his head. "Never mind.  You wouldn't get it anyway." He finished off his cereal and stood up. "Hurry up.  We have to get going."

"Sure." Marik answered, still staring at his Cheerios.  Malik sighed and shook his head.  As soon as the modern-day Egyptian was gone, Marik raised his spoon and poked at one of the little o's.  It went under the milk and bobbed up again.  Marik sweatdropped and tentatively put one in his mouth.  He chewed for a bit and swallowed.  Discovering that it wasn't poisoned, he shrugged. "Not bad." he muttered, and finished off his bowl.

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A car alarm blared, and a certain white-haired teenager sighed and glanced behind him. "Bakura, how many times do I have to tell you not to touch the cars?"

"I didn't!" Bakura shot back, glaring at Ryou and pointing at the windshield of a BMW. "I threw something at it to see what would happen!  That's no reason for it to start screaming at me!"

Ryou sweatdropped at seeing the inch-long crack in the windshield. "Don't throw anything at them, either.  That's why the alarm went off."

"Hmph," Bakura muttered. "People these days.  There's so paranoid.  See, in Egypt, there wasn't anything this fancy, even on the tombs of those high and mighty Pharaohs.  Oh, they _thought_ they were well protected, what with those so-called Pharaoh's curses, but a good spell-"

"Let's just _go_, Bakura!" Ryou yelped, seeing the owner of the car hurrying toward his precious ride.  Judging by his fine clothes, they'd have a substantial lawsuit if they were caught. "And no throwing stuff at anything!  Seriously, you'll get us sent to jail!"

"That won't be a problem, if security's anywhere near as lousy as it was in the Pharaoh's dungeons." Bakura answered nonchalantly. "I probably set a record for the number of times I escaped from that place.  I mean, really, you give those guards a chance to catch you, and then they get so relaxed it's easy to slit their throats and escape-"

"_Bakura!_"

"Okay, okay, I'll shut up now." They walked on in silence for a few more minutes, Bakura gazing at the road and all the cars in awe.  Ryou noticed him staring and sighed.

"What're you looking at now?"

Bakura glanced up. "Hmm?  Oh, just those car things.  How do they work again?"

"Well, let's see.  You have a battery, and when they get turned on, the gasoline is burned and that makes the machinery work somehow…" Ryou caught Bakura's completely confused expression, sweatdropped, and amended his explanation. "Magic." Okay, so he was stretching the truth a bit, but whatever.

A thoughtful look appeared on Bakura's face. "Really?  So if I do this…" He stopped and narrowed his eyes, staring at a car that was moving around in a nearby parking lot.  Ryou glanced at him, looked away, and then did a double take, glancing back.  The tomb robber was glowing a dark blue, his eyes fixed on the car.

"Bakura, what are you doing?" Ryou hissed, glancing around to see if anyone was watching.  Luckily, no one seemed to notice.

"Shh." Bakura whispered, focusing even more and causing his aura to become slightly bigger. "This." With an extra burst of energy, his aura flared slightly and the engines of the car exploded.  Bakura grinned as the hood of the car started flaming slightly and the driver got out, completely puzzled as to what had messed up his car.  Still grinning, Bakura turned and sauntered away.

Ryou stared at the vehicle for a few seconds, watching the driver pour the contents of his water bottle on the fire, before turning away and jogging to catch up to the tomb robber. "What did you do?  What _was_ that?"

"Magic," Bakura answered calmly. "And that car didn't run on magic, by the way.  I guess that guy's lucky it didn't.  Otherwise, that thing would've exploded…"

"_Bakura!_" Ryou looked like he was about to have a heart attack.  Bakura sighed.

"I know, I know, no more blowing up cars or using magic…" he grumbled. "Geez, Ryou, whatever happened to your sense of fun?"

"I have one, it just doesn't include messing with cars or other modern-day technology," the British boy complained. "Really, Bakura, don't draw attention to us!"

"Fine, fine," the tomb robber said in a tone that made Ryou think he wasn't even listening. "Whatever."

They came to a major intersection, and Ryou stopped.  Bakura glanced at him and kept walking. "C'mon.  I thought we were in a hurry?"

"Bakura!  STOP!"

"Why?" Anyone who saw him would say he was either very brave or very stupid, walking into the crosswalk when the sign on the other side said a very clear DON'T WALK.  Ryou knew better, however, but the police probably wouldn't believe him if he said the guy was an ancient Egyptian spirit and didn't know any better.  The fact still remained, however, that Bakura was walking right into the middle of a busy intersection where cars were going 55 miles per hour and it was _not_ his turn to cross.

Ryou groaned as he saw a car speeding towards the tomb robber.  "I can't watch," he muttered, covering his eyes.  He heard the screech of tires and a collective gasp from the people around him, and decided to risk a peek.  The first thing that popped into his mind was that Bakura was luckily not sprawled out flat on the pavement with tire tracks through his body.  The second was that he should deny knowing the Egyptian.

Bakura and the driver of the car were staring each other down.  The tomb robber had his arms crossed and was glaring at the driver like it was all his fault.  The window of the car came down, and the man yelled… something inappropriate… through it.

The tomb robber didn't take too kindly to this. "Well, you are too, you Ra-forsaken piece of-"

"_BAKURA!_" Ryou wailed.  This was most definitely not his day.

By this time, there was a line backed up behind the stopped car.  The driver of the car right behind the one that had nearly run Bakura over rolled down his window. "Hey kid!  Get out of the road, will ya?"

Bakura turned his glare to the second driver. "Why should I?  And for your information, I'm old enough to be your great-great-great-many-times-great-grandfather, so watch who you're calling kid!  Unless you want me to send you to the Shadow Realm, that is!"

It was at this point that the stoplight changed and the sign to walk flashed on.  The people around Ryou started walking, staring at Bakura.  One girl nudged Ryou in the ribs and whispered, "Hey, is that guy your brother?  If you ask me, he belongs in a mental asylum."

Ryou shook his head slowly. "No, no relation at all.  In fact, I'm not sure I even know him." He walked quickly towards the ancient tomb robber, grabbing his sleeve. "Come _on_!" he hissed, and Bakura reluctantly followed.

"Good riddance!" the first driver yelled.  Bakura rolled his eyes.

"May Am'mit devour your soul!" the spirit yelled back, making an inappropriate hand gesture.  Ryou slapped his forehead, wondering where he had learned it.  After all, it probably wasn't something that was commonly used in ancient times.

They reached the other side of the street, and the light changed again.  Giving Bakura one last glare, the driver hit the gas and started moving away.  As soon as he wasn't looking, however, the tomb robber turned back, and the aura flared again.  Once again, the car engines exploded and the cars behind it came to a screeching halt.  Bakura grinned evilly and turned away.

"Bakura!  _What_ did I tell you about making stuff explode?"

"I know, I know, don't do it." the tomb robber muttered, annoyed. "But you gotta admit, he deserved it."

Ryou just sighed. _'Why me?'_

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Malik tossed Marik a helmet, grinning. "Put that on, if you can."

Marik turned it over in his hands, looking completely puzzled. "What do I do with this?"

Malik sighed. "You put it on, over your head.  C'mon, you can't ride without one."

"And why not?"

"The police'll come and arrest us if they find you without one." Malik grinned. _'Of course, with that hair, they can't exactly say we had a choice…'_

Marik sent Malik a confused look. "Who're the police?"

Malik's grin grew even wider. "They're the big, scary guys dressed in blue who come and drag you off and lock you up if you don't do what you want them to."

"Oh, really?" Marik examined the helmet. "Interesting.  Amazing they haven't been overthrown."

"Yeah, amazing, isn't it?" Malik asked, trying not to laugh. "You can try, if you want.  I've tried a couple times, but it's never worked." _'Oh yeah right.  Isis would _kill_ me if I tried.'_

"Hmm… maybe if we work together…"

"Maybe," Malik agreed, unable to suppress a chuckle. "Maybe later.  But right now we have to meet my friends."

"So… how exactly do I put this on?" Marik wondered, lifting the helmet and inspecting the underside.

"Well…" Malik grabbed it and tried shoving it over the spirit's head, to no success. "Your hair's in the way.  Try to part it and then maybe it'll fit."

"Like this?" Marik moved his hair so it was relatively flat, and Malik tried to make the helmet fit again.

It was at that moment that Isis walked into the garage. "Malik, you forgot your…" Her voice faded as she saw the strange scene.  She sweatdropped, shook her head, and then muttered, "Never mind," before wandering back into the house.

Malik blinked and looked up. "Isis?" Seeing that she was gone, he shrugged and went back to his attempts to make the helmet stay on Marik's head.

A few minutes later, the helmet had been successfully forced on, with Marik's hair sticking out at odd angles from the bottom.  Snickering at the way the spirit looked, Malik quickly put on his own helmet and got on his motorcycle. "C'mon.  It's time to go."

Marik eyed the vehicle warily. "I don't know if I trust that thing."

"Just get on." Malik said impatiently.  Marik grudgingly complied, and two minutes later, they were flying through the streets of Domino City at twenty miles per hour above the speed limit.

Marik was clinging to Malik for dear life. "Do you _have_ to go this fast?" he whimpered.

Grinning, Malik glanced back at him. "What, are you _scared_?" he asked incredulously. "I go faster than this all the time."

"Whatever happened to those police people you were talking about?" Marik cried.

"They'll never catch us." Malik said breezily. "If we see anyone, I'll just slow down."

"HOW?"

"Easy.  Like this." To prove his point, Malik braked as quickly as he could, stopping at the yellow light instead of running straight through it like he usually did.  Tires screeched, the motorcycle quickly slowed, and Marik almost fell off the bike.

"YAA!!!"

"What, don't tell me that wasn't fun?" Malik asked innocently, looking at Marik, who was panting slightly and had gone very white under his tan. "Too bad.  It's about to get even worse for you."

If possible, Marik went even paler. "Say _what_?"

Malik pointed at a sign up ahead. "See there?  We're going on the highway.  I'm allowed to go twice as fast there."

"Do we _have_ to go on this highway place?"

Malik grinned maliciously. "Well…" _'No, not really, but I'm having too much fun freaking you out not to.'_

The light turned green, and the crazy Egyptian teenager whooped. "Let's go!" He revved the bike, lifting the front wheel off the ground, and Marik screamed.  Malik grinned again and took off, heading for the ramp to the highway.

"Yahoo!" Malik yelled, pushing his motorcycle to the limit as he swerved in between cars at random, tilting the bike to either side and freaking Marik out to no end.  Car horns blared, but Malik just smiled blandly and returned the rude gestures the drivers were giving him.  A couple exits later, he took the off ramp and stopped at the light.  Glancing behind him, he asked, "Hey Marik, you still alive back there, or has your heart stopped yet?"

Upon receiving no answer, he sweatdropped.  The spirit was out cold, his arms in a death grip around Malik's waist.  Malik mushroom-sighed and shook his head. "Whaddya know, he can ride unconscious.  It's a wonder he didn't fall off."

Marik opened his eyes slowly to see Malik's grinning face. "Is it over?" he asked, completely muddled.

Malik smirked. "Nope.  Couple more miles to go."

Marik moaned. "No… Ra, no… why me???  WHY ME???"

The light turned green, and Malik smiled deviously. "Here we go!" Once again, he revved the bike, and they sped through the light at twice the speed limit.

The whole time, Marik was behind him, groaning. "No… no… this is a complete nightmare!  NO!  Someone wake me up!  …OW!" He glared at Malik, who was grinning his head off. "What was that for?"

"It seems like you're _not_ dreaming," the teenager said nonchalantly. "Too bad.  Means you'll have to put up with the rest of the ride.

Marik fainted again, and Malik shrugged. "Oh well.  Hope he doesn't fall off." And with that, he sped off in the direction of the park.

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"You're late." Yugi stated calmly as Malik walked to the park bench under a large sycamore where he and Ryou had been waiting. "Ten minutes late."

Malik shrugged and ran a hand through his slightly messed-up hair. "Sorry.  Traffic was terrible on the freeway."

Ryou glanced at him. "The freeway?  You don't live that far from here."

Malik hid a grin. "Let's just say I took a little detour.  Oh, by the way… I heard that the engines of a couple cars mysteriously exploded near where you live, Ryou.  Know anything about it?"

"Uh, who me?  No, no, of course not!" Ryou was perfectly aware that his voice was squeaking, but he was too busy trying to keep his face from turning the color of a tomato to do anything about it. "So, um, did you two find out anything?  From Kaiba and the Duel Monsters, I mean."

"Shh, quiet!  Don't let anyone hear you.  We don't want people thinking we're crazy." Malik glanced around.  Seeing no one watching, he continued, "And no, I didn't find out anything from Kaiba, other than that he doesn't take too kindly to challenges to fights." The other two stared at him, and Malik sweatdropped. "Never mind."

"Did he go into any details?" Yugi questioned.  Malik shrugged.

"No, not really.  He pretty much only said that there wasn't any chance the monsters were from the holograms.  Did you find out anything, Yugi?"

"Just a little.  I summoned a Mystical Elf and pretty much figured out that the monsters were real.  Other than that, nothing.  Apparently, they can't talk." Yugi said.

Ryou sighed slightly. "Well, there goes those two leads.  But I think I might have found something else…"

Yugi glanced at him. "Really?  Me too."

"Yeah… except mine's more a someone than a something." Malik put in.  The other two glanced at him questioningly, and Malik was about to explain, when a loud explosion was heard in the general direction of where Malik had come from.  The three teenagers looked at each other.  Reaching unspoken agreement, they ran toward the source of the noise.

Ryou sighed heavily as he ran. _'Why do I have a feeling I know who caused that?'_

The first thing Malik heard as he approached was a very, very familiar voice cursing in Egyptian.  The second thing was another, less familiar voice, screaming back at the first in the same language.  Ryou smacked his palm against his forehead at hearing the second voice, muttering something about "baka spirits."  The other two didn't have time to wonder about it, however, as they reached the scene, where a large crowd had already gathered.

Pushing through the other people, Yugi, Ryou, and Malik reached the source of the noise.  Both Ryou and Malik groaned, recognizing the two arguers, and Malik freaked out when he saw what had exploded. "My motorcycle!  Marik, what did you do to it?"

The spiky-haired spirit turned to Malik. "I didn't do anything to that demonic piece of technology!  Blame it on the tomb robber!"

Ryou glared at Bakura. "_What_ did I tell you about making things explode?"

"You specified cars only!"

The various arguments were interrupted by hysterical laughter by someone who had just emerged out of the crowd. "Two minutes together and you two are already at each other's throats!  I can't believe you!"

Bakura and Marik both turned to stare down at Yami. "Pharaoh!"

"What, not even a 'hello' after all these years?  No 'we missed you' or anything?"

"How about, 'oh, it's you?' " Bakura asked sarcastically. "That's what I've been wanting to tell you.  Besides, spending five millennia in the Shadow Realm with no shiny golden objects can really mess up a tomb robber's attitude."

Yami opened his mouth to make a smart retort, but Yugi interrupted. "So, Yami, I guess these are your friends?"

Yami closed his mouth and turned to the shorter boy. "Yes, though I'm not feeling very friendly toward them right now."

Ryou stared from Bakura to Yami to Yugi. "You know each other?"

"Yes, unfortunately." Bakura grumbled. "Have for five thousand years."

Marik glanced at Malik, expecting him to say something, but the spirit was disappointed. "My motorcycle…" In a flash, he was in front of Bakura and had somehow managed to lift the thief up by the collar. "Why'd you do that to my motorcycle?"

Marik rolled his eyes. "Calm down.  _Your_ motorcycle's across the street.  The tomb robber exploded the one that tried to run him over."

Ryou turned to Bakura. "Did you walk into the middle of the street again?"

"No!" Bakura quickly changed his mind under Ryou's withering glare. "Well… yes."

Yami sighed. "ANYWAY… getting off the topic of exploding vehicles.  I guess it's time we explained what it was we came here to do."

The Pharaoh sweatdropped as he noticed Malik examining his motorcycle.  Finding a millimeter-long indent, he turned to Marik and pointed to it, yelling, "Look what I found!  A dent!  A _dent!_  You dented my ride!"

"Would you rather have had it explode?" Marik yelled back. " 'Cuz that's what would've happened if the tomb robber had gotten to it."

Meanwhile, Bakura's eyes had been following a car which had slowed down considerably, its driver staring at the scene. "What're you looking at?" he yelled, making the same rude gesture as before.  The man quickly turned away and sped up.

Bakura started glowing again, but Ryou noticed just and time and yelped, "BAKURA!" before shoving the tomb robber.  The spirit's aim went slightly awry and he missed the car, causing a nearby trash can to explode for seemingly no reason at all.

Bakura grinned sheepishly at the angry Ryou. "Whoops, sorry…"

A tick mark appeared on Yami's forehead. "Are any of you LISTENING to me?!?"

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It was a good half-hour later before the six of them had stopped arguing enough to settle down and talk about the current problem.  After the three spirits had explained where they'd come from and everything they knew about the Duel Monsters, all of them sat in silence for a while before Yugi asked, "So, if you're here, then is this Seth person here too?  I mean, since you were all used to seal the Shadow Realm…"

Yami glanced at him. "Most probably." he mused. "He'd probably be with his reincarnation, too, since you three were the first people we actually talked to when we arrived here."

"His reincarnation?" Malik asked.  Yami nodded, and Malik continued, "Well, how would we know if he's been reincarnated or if he's even here?"

"Well, let's see.  Seth has brown hair, blue eyes, wears Egyptian high priest robes, has a personality problem, and is about a foot taller than the Pharaoh here…" Bakura listed off.  Yami glared at him.

"Antisocial, tall, and creepy?" Ryou asked. "Sounds like Kaiba to me."

"Yeah, Kaiba does fit the description pretty well." Yugi said. "Especially the 'personality problem' part."

"The thing is, though, I went to see Kaiba about the Duel Monsters, remember?" Malik pointed out. "He denied knowing anything about them, and if he was our enemy, he didn't try to kill me.  And I don't remember seeing anyone dressed in priest robes in the whole of Kaiba Corp., that I would have noticed."

"Well, maybe you've just got the wrong person." Marik shrugged. "Either that or Seth's being even more confusing than usual.  Or this Kaiba guy doesn't agree with Seth."

Yugi cocked his head, confused. "How could you not agree with another incarnation of yourself?  I mean, technically you're the same person, so…"

"It all depends on what the people go through." Yami said. "If, say, one's been pampered all his life and the other's been a beggar, there'll be a pretty big personality difference.  If you need proof that they turn out differently…" He jerked his thumb toward a certain white-haired pair.  Bakura waved, Ryou mushroom-sighed, and Yugi sweatdropped. "Case in point."

"I see…"

"What bothers me most about this, though, is why all the monsters are appearing like this: one at a time, and as far as we can tell, only about once per day." Yami said. "You'd think that they'd all pop out of the Shadow Realm at the same time, since all four of the people who sealed them were released… or at least, three of them were."

Bakura sighed, shaking his head in mock sadness. "Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Pharaoh." he said, standing up and starting to pace around. "You were the ruler of all Egypt, the King of Games, supposedly a master of magic, and yet you don't know this?  I'm ashamed.  How could you be so ignorant?"

Yami glared at him. "Well, tomb robber, please be so kind as to share your endless knowledge with us poor fools who don't know enough to satisfy you.  And please excuse me if I spend more time _casting_ spells than actually _breaking_ them." He paused to sweatdrop. "It was everyone else's job to try and break them, if they could."

Bakura stopped pacing and turned to face Yami. "All right then, Pharaoh, time for you to learn something from the master thief.  Tomb robbing 101.  First thing: most Pharaohs' tombs are protected by magic spells that supposedly last forever.  However, in my trade, you soon learn that such descriptions are deceiving.  One:" he held up one finger, "on the newer tombs, the spells are harder to break, and require great force of magic; a bit of sheer power.  If you do that, they crack almost instantly."

"Yeah, whatever." Yami grumbled, trying to ignore the fact that Bakura was rubbing it in his face that he had desecrated the tombs of the Pharaoh's ancestors, and was enjoying it a little too much. "Get on with it."

"Patience, Yami." Bakura said mockingly. "Two:" the second finger went up, "on the older tombs, the 'everlasting' spells tend to wear off a little: the older, the easier it is to break.  Think of a spell as a wall, and the older it gets, the more it crumbles.  The more it crumbles, the more holes it gets, and the more holes, the easier it is to break."

Marik stared at Bakura blankly. "So you're saying-"

"Well, let's say the spell is a building-"

"Whatever happened to the wall?" Ryou asked.  Bakura glared at him.

"Let's just say this is a more complicated spell, so it's a building.  Anyway.  It's a building, and since the five thousand years have passed, the four souls used to seal the Shadow Realm-to hold the building upright-have been released.  Say the souls are like cornerstones; take them away, and the building starts to crumble, and it will eventually collapse.  That's what's happening here."

"Question?" Malik asked, raising his hand.  Bakura looked at him. "If all four cornerstones are taken away, won't the building collapse right away?"

Bakura laughed falsely. "Well, let's just say it's collapsing in slow motion!"

The others all sweatdropped.  Yami murmured, "Bakura, I think your extended metaphor has many, _many_ mistakes…" The tomb robber glared at him.

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Ryou sweatdropped as he watched Bakura empty his pockets of any and all weaponry he had managed to get ahold of.  The group of six had retreated to a small meadow in the middle of a grove of trees where they probably wouldn't be disturbed.  Yugi was staring at Bakura in disbelief, while Malik was also watching and laughing at the looks on the Yugi and Ryou's faces.  Yami and Marik, however, were barely paying any attention, looking for all the world like what they were seeing was perfectly normal.  And it probably was, too, considering that this is Bakura we're talking about.

"Let's see…" Bakura muttered, grabbing the kitchen knives out of the inside of his jacket, the switchblade from the back pocket of his jeans, an envelope opener from his shoe, a whole bottle of cooking oil and matches from… somewhere, and a water gun from his hair, where it had somehow managed to stay hidden. "I think that's all!"

"Finally." Marik muttered, glancing significantly at the pile of "dangerous" objects at Bakura's feet. "I'm surprised you managed to find that much weaponry in one ordinary, modern-day household."

"A water gun?" Malik finally managed to choke out, still laughing. "You brought a _water gun_ as a potential weapon?"

"Oh, is that what it's called?" Bakura asked, grabbing at it. "Hmm.  Not too dangerous when filled with water, but do _this_…" He grabbed the oil, poured it in, and lit a match.  He put the fire in the path of the oil and shot it at Marik, who yelped and dodged the flaming oil.  The tomb robber grinned. "See?  Very dangerous, if you know how to do it."  Everyone else except Marik facefaulted, while the spirit was busy trying to put out a small fire that had started in his hair.

"So, did you guys find out anything interesting?" the King of Thieves asked. "I mean, since you know what's happening next…"

Marik nodded and pulled out Malik's set of kitchen knives, but Yami shook his head. "I'm sorry, but terrorizing innocent people wasn't high on my list of 'to do' things today." the Pharaoh grumbled.

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "ANYWAY!  Lesson one on how to be a tomb robber-" he ducked the shoe Yami threw at him and continued, "Fine!  Lesson one on how to survive in a world where dangerous magical monsters are randomly appearing and will soon attempt to conquer this pathetic thing you call modern-day civilization-how to use weaponry!  And magic, too, but that's a lot less fun."

Malik grinned, picking up two of the longest knives and twirling them expertly. "How to use weaponry, hmm?  Good thing they teach us fencing at school, then." He tossed one of the knives at a tree, but completely missed it and ended up hitting a bush some ten feet behind it.  The Egyptian teenager sweatdropped. "Guess I need a little work."

"Umm… can I not use the knives?" Yugi asked.  Yami looked at him, and Yugi grinned sheepishly. "I don't exactly have the highest grades in P.E…"

Ryou nodded quickly. "Me neither." Bakura sighed, disappointed.  He'd at least been hoping his reincarnation was good with blades.

"I claim the knives!" Malik cried quickly, grabbing four of them before anyone else could.

Marik grinned. "Good boy.  Might as well start on weapons before we get to magic."

Ryou glanced at Bakura. "Could we start on magic first?"

"Sure, sure." the tomb robber grumbled. "Wanna try spelled knives?"

Ryou sweatdropped. "Maybe later.  Magic first." Bakura shrugged.

Yami turned to Yugi. "Guess that leaves us.  What do you want to try, weapons, magic, or magicked weapons?"

Yugi shrugged. "Magic, I guess… but maybe you could teach me some more about the Duel Monsters cards?" Yami stared at him, and Yugi squirmed slightly. "I tried to use some magic and traps yesterday night, when you were sleeping, except it didn't work…"

"I see." Yami muttered. "Well, it needs a slightly different type of magic to use each type of card, so I guess you can use monster cards naturally, but not the magic and traps.  Have your friends tried to summon other cards yet?"

Yugi shook his head. "I don't think so; just me."

"All right, then…" Yami turned to the other two groups and called, "Hey Malik!  Ryou!  Can you come over here for a minute?" The two glanced up and nodded, walking towards Yami.

"What's up, Pharaoh?" Malik asked.

"I want you to try something." Yami answered. "Try to use a magic, trap, and monster card from your decks.  See if it works."

"Sure, why not?" Malik tried it out, and to his surprise, only one of his trap cards worked.  The Egyptian blinked. "Weird…"

The only card that worked for Ryou was his Change of Heart, and Yami nodded knowingly. "So Yugi controls the monsters, Ryou has the magic, and Malik can use traps…"

"What _are_ you talking about?" Malik demanded.

"Well, you need a different type of magic for each type of card, so it makes sense that each of you can only use one type naturally." Yami answered. "We may need to work on that… just go back to what you were doing." Malik and Ryou obeyed.

Yami turned back to Yugi and summoned a Swords of Revealing Light, telling him to try and do the same.  Ryou watched them as he walked back to where Bakura was waiting.

"Did the Pharaoh say anything interesting?" the tomb robber asked.

"Kind of.  Something about needing different types of magic for different types of cards."

"Okay.  You still want to work with regular magic or do you want to try and summon other cards?"

"Regular magic, I guess…" Ryou was starting to feel uneasy because of the evil grin on Bakura's face.

"Sure.  For your first lesson…" Bakura conjured up a ball of dark blue Shadow magic, maybe three inches in diameter, and grinned. "Watch closely." Making sure Ryou was paying attention, he focused on his target and lobbed it straight at Yami's head.

The Pharaoh turned just in time to notice it.  Acting quickly, he grabbed one of the Swords and jumped back a step.  He swung the Sword back and used it to slam the ball-straight towards Malik.

Malik hadn't been paying any attention at all to Marik, instead playing with his new knives.  He saw the ball's reflection in one of the blades, just in time to duck.  The magic whizzed right over his head, almost touching the tips of his hair, before it hit a tree.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, except for Bakura, who groaned and cursed at having missed Yami.  They were a little too early, however, as the tree started falling-with Yugi right in its path.  The boy yelped and ran as fast as he could away from the tree, straight into Yami, making them both fall over.

Yami got up as quickly as he could and helped his reincarnation up; then, having regained his dignity, he stalked over to Bakura. "What were you _doing_?  You could have killed Yugi!"

"I was aiming for you, baka Pharaoh!  If you hadn't hit it with your sword, it wouldn't have hit the tree and made it fall!"

"What did you _expect_ me to do, stand here and let it slam me in the head?"

"What about _me_?" Malik interjected. "That thing could've taken my head off if I hadn't ducked!"  The two arguing spirits paid him no attention, and Malik grew angry. "Are you _listening_ to me?!?"

"Shh, calm down." Marik muttered. "Believe me, you _don't_ want to get caught up in one of their arguments."

Ryou and Yugi were trying to calm Bakura and Yami down, but with no success. "You think it's MY fault?  Who made that thing in the first place?"

"It didn't hurt him at all, so what're you complaining about?"

"It could have KILLED him!" Yami yelled.

"Oh yeah, if he was stupid enough to just stand there and do nothing!" Bakura yelled back.

"I'm TIRED of this!  What's the point of arguing with an idiot tomb robber like you?"

"Yeah, what's the point?" Bakura whipped his deck out of his jacket pocket, glaring at Yami. "Well, are you going to get your deck or are you going to stand there stalling all day?"

"Never!" Yami grabbed his deck too. "Bakura!  I challenge you to a Shadow Game!"

"You're on, Pharaoh!  Get ready for the most embarrassing defeat of your life!"

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YES!!!!!  FINALLY DONE!!!!  Sorry for the long wait, but I was busier than usual.  The next update might be also during the break, if I can manage it, but probably not, since there's a one-shot I'm hoping to finish, maybe a Christmas special, and maybe a Gundam Wing fic I hope to start.  That plus presents'll keep me busy for a while. ^_~  Next chapter'll be fun, though, Yami vs. Bakura.  Who will win?  Yami?  Bakura?  Both?  Neither?  How are the last two even possible?  …anyway.

You know the drill.  REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW if you want the next chapter!  If you don't, review anyway!  Just no flames!  Flames will be given to Bakura to use for his weaponry!  Reviewers get candy canes, whatever flavor they want!

Oh yeah… one more thing.  No one has guessed Yugi's mystery card yet! (though HK and HongMing put the same thing… might want to check everyone else's guesses before you guess too XD)  So… here's your chapterly (is that even a word?  Microsoft Word doesn't seem to think so) hint!

HINT: (ooh, ooh, a hint!  Lucky peoples are you!) Um… It's in the _Enter the Shadow Realm_ TV opening, if you look.  I want the NAME, so no saying it's the Duel Monster that's big and… yeah.  But what Duel Monster isn't big?

Oh yeah, one more thing! (last thing, I promise!) I need opinions here: should Yugi have a Blue-Eyes in his deck?  You know, since Kaiba tore up Grandpa's?  I just want to know, it probably won't play too big a part.  That's it, then!  Review!


	5. What's a Shadow Duel Between Friends?

*hands out candy canes to hobbitfeet13, dxdevlin, Maruken, Hikage Kitsune, and HongMing* Not much for author's notes this time, other than it's not Valkyrion or a dragon.  I doubt many people read these anyway.

Disclaimer: I only own Yu-Gi-Oh! in my own little world, where it's constantly in chaos because Bakura gets hold of flamethrowers and nitroglycerin at the same time.  Guess you should be glad I don't own it.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Four

What's a Shadow Game Between Friends?

"C'mon, Yami, you don't really want to do this!" Yugi pleaded. "…do you?"

"Don't bother." Marik muttered to him. "They've been wanting to do this for five thousand years.  Let them get it out of their systems.  And besides, don't you want to find out who's the better of the two once and for all?"

"Can't they do it any other way?" Ryou asked.  Marik shook his head.

"They'd call any other way indecisive.  That, plus they like taking things to the extreme."

Bakura grinned at Yami. "Would you like to do the honors, or should I?" Without waiting for an answer, he concentrated his magic and summoned up a bubble of the Shadow Realm to surround them, Marik, Yugi, Ryou, and Malik.  Yugi yelped as it slowly rose from the ground and grew higher, meeting in the center between Bakura and Yami and forming a dome shape.  Malik tentatively stuck his hand into the blackness and saw it come out on the other side, where Marik, Yugi, and Ryou were.  He grinned and ran straight into it, coming out on the opposite side of the dome and scaring the life out of Yugi and Ryou.

"This should be interesting," he remarked, using Yugi's head as an armrest.  The shorter boy was too busy trying to slow his heart rate back to normal to complain. "Who do you think's gonna win?  A thousand yen on the tomb robber."

Marik shook his head. "I say the Pharaoh.  He isn't called the King of Games for nothing." He glanced at Yugi and Ryou, who were staring at Yami and Bakura in disbelief, and asked, "What about you two?"

No answer.  Marik sweatdropped. "Well, if you don't want to place bets, you might as well pay close attention.  Magic's more obvious in the Shadow Realm, so when they play cards, you might be able to learn how to do it yourself by just watching." The two boys just nodded numbly, still staring at the duelists.

Something that looked like one of Kaiba's holographic dueling fields, made out of stone and minus the projectors, rose out of the ground, with the two duelists stepping onto the dueling platforms and placing their decks in the allotted places.  They glared at each other for a moment.

"Are you ready, Bakura?" Yami asked, drawing his starting hand.

"I've _been_ ready since the day I met you!" Bakura answered, also drawing his hand. "Don't cry if you lose, Pharaoh."

"I think _you're_ the one that's going to lose." Yami retorted.

"DUEL!"

In answer to the challenge, the carved circles underneath the duelists flashed slightly, and both Yami and Bakura began glowing, Bakura dark blue, and Yami golden.  Their magic seeped into the floor and the circles, spreading out through cracks in the stone until the whole arena seemed to be filled with a dark green light.

"Whoa…"

"Awesome…"

"I want to learn how to do that…" Malik muttered.  Marik chuckled.

"And that's only the beginning."

"For my first move," Bakura began, "I'll set one card in defense mode and end my turn.  Your move, Pharaoh." In front of him, the air shimmered slightly, the green lines glowed and flowed upwards, turning dark blue, and a fog formed, through which could be seen the vague form of a monster.

Yami drew a card and played it immediately. "Celtic Guardian!  Attack his facedown monster!" This time, the lines that formed the shape of the monster were golden, like Yami's magic.  The swordsman roared and swung his sword, dissipating the fog and revealing Bakura's monster: a Man-Eater Bug.  Yami cried out in surprise as the insect was destroyed, taking his monster with it.

Bakura smirked. "You didn't see that coming, Yami?  Pathetic.  And I thought you knew my strategies." Yami just scowled in reply.

"End turn."

"That all?  Fine…" he drew his next card. "I'll summon White Magical Hat, and use it to attack your Life Points directly!" (Yami's LP: 3000) "And its effect allows me to pick one card at random from your hand and discard it to the Graveyard.  And I choose…" The second card from the left moved from Yami's hand to the Graveyard, and the image of a Mammoth Graveyard flashed slightly on the field before disappearing.  Yami groaned; that had been the only monster in his hand that he could play.  Bakura snickered. "Aw, too bad, Pharaoh… your turn."

Yami drew - still no monster he could play. "One card facedown and I'll end my turn," the Pharaoh muttered.  Bakura grinned.

"I almost feel sorry for you, Yami, open for a direct attack.  Almost." He drew and barely glanced at the card. "I'll sacrifice White Magical Hat to summon the Earl of Demise, in attack mode!  Attack his Life Points!"

"Not so fast!" Yami yelled. "Activate trap!  Spell-Binding Circle!" The golden lines of magic appeared again, this time on Bakura's side of the field, and trapped the Earl in a magical circle and reducing its attack power to 1300.

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Whaddya know, you actually managed to surprise me there." He glanced at his hand and played a card facedown. "Your turn."

Yami drew and got just the card he needed. "Beta, the Magnet Warrior!" The monster appeared on his side of the field, ready to attack the trapped Earl.  Yami considered the facedown card for a moment; after all, Beta was the only monster in his hand he could play and who knew how long it would take before he drew another one… aw, heck with it.  He hadn't become the King of Games without taking a couple chances. "Beta!  Attack his Earl!" The Magnet Warrior gave a strange sort of howl before slashing out and destroying the Earl. (Bakura's LP: 3600) Yami watched warily as the smoke cleared, only to see nothing but Bakura on the other side.  The Pharaoh looked slightly surprised. "What, no trap?"

Bakura shrugged. "Nope, not this time.  Sorry to disappoint you, Yami.  My turn?" His opponent nodded, and Bakura drew his next card. "Well, this should be interesting…" he murmured. "Set one monster in defense mode, and activate The Dark Door!" The facedown magic card flipped up, and Bakura grinned. "You know what this means, Pharaoh?"

"Yeah, yeah," Yami grumbled. "No attacking your Life Points directly unless you don't play a monster until I destroy that card."

"Which is an effect of you only being able to attack once per turn…"

"You can only attack once, too." Yami pointed out.  Bakura smirked.

"True, but it's not like I care." He flourished his hand in a way that indicated it was the Pharaoh's turn.  Yami sweatdropped slightly and drew.  Dark Magician; still nothing he could play without sacrifice. "Beta!  Attack again!" His monster slashed through the fog, only to reveal a familiar-looking monster: a familiar-looking monster that consisted of a slightly creepy face in a jar.  Bakura grinned.

"Ah yes, my infamous Morphing Jar.  Five cards, Yami." Both discarded their hands and drew five new cards from their decks, and the tomb robber smirked. "This'll be the easiest game ever…"

"Oh yeah?" Yami retorted. "You just helped me fill my hand with better cards than before." He chose a monster from his hand. "Big Shield Gardna, defense mode." He made the same hand motion as Bakura, obviously mimicking him.  The tomb robber just rolled his eyes and drew.

"Well, this should be fun… since I now have three fiend monsters in the Graveyard, I'll send my Earl of Demise, Sangan, and Souls of the Forgotten out of play to summon Dark Necrophia!" The female monster rose out of the ground, cackling evilly, and Bakura smiled. "Perfect.  Don't tell me you didn't see that coming, Pharaoh."

"Fine, I won't," Yami muttered. "My turn?"

"Not yet.  Dark Necrophia, attack Beta!" (Yami's LP: 2500) "Then I'll summon Lady of Faith in attack mode.  Now it's your turn."

"If you're trying to get me to attack her, it won't be that easy." Yami remarked. "I'll sacrifice Big Shield Gardna to summon the Dark Magician Girl!" She appeared on his side of the field, accompanied by all the little hearts, as usual.  She blew a kiss to Bakura, causing the tomb robber and all the spectators to sweatdrop.

"…anyway," Yami continued, "she gains 300 more attack points for every Dark Magician and Magician of Black Chaos in my Graveyard, and I have one Dark Magician.  That raises her attack up to 2300, enough to defeat your Dark Necrophia!" He paused. "But I'll attack your Lady of Faith instead." The little hearts swirled around the DMG as she raised her staff and pointed it at the Lady.  One Dark Magic Attack and she was gone, and Bakura's Life Points were a lot lower. (Bakura's LP: 2400)

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Well, you do know something of my strategy…"

"Just a little," Yami replied. "End turn."

Bakura drew, barely glancing at his new card. "Hmm… should I switch Dark Necrophia to defense mode or not?"

"You know I won't attack it either way," Yami told him, but the tomb robber just smiled blandly.

"Maybe, maybe not… I'll keep her in attack mode and set two cards facedown.  Your turn now, Yami."

Yami stared at the dilemma in front of him.  Dark Necrophia was the only monster on Bakura's side of the field, but he couldn't attack directly anyway, so what would be the point?  He'd only help Bakura's strategy if he attacked, but he'd have to destroy her eventually.  Otherwise, this duel would end in a very long and very boring stalemate.  He sighed.  Oh well. "Dark Magician Girl, Dark Magic Attack!" (Bakura's LP: 2300)

The tomb robber smirked. "Well, look at that.  One direct attack from your magician and I'd lose the duel… except you can't really do that, can you, Pharaoh?" Yami glared at him.

"One monster facedown, and I'll end my turn."

"Thank you.  Too bad for you that you overlooked one of Dark Necrophia's special effects…"

"Which one?" Yami asked dryly. "She had about twenty the last time I checked."

Bakura smiled. "The one that allows me to take control of one of your monsters if she's destroyed in battle." He beckoned to the Dark Magician Girl, and she screamed slightly as the shadow of his monster appeared behind her and dragged her to his side of the field, controlling her every move.  Yami groaned.

"Oh… _that_ special effect.  I suppose you're going to take advantage of the others sometime soon?"

"Of course, Pharaoh.  Of course." He drew and played a monster facedown before ordering the DMG to attack Yami's facedown monster. "And I think I'll activate my facedown card…"

"Ouija Board?" Yami asked in a deadpan voice.  Bakura shook his head.

"I wish, but no.  Chain Energy!  Both of us now have to pay 500 Life Points every time we set or play a card.  Your turn now, Pharaoh."

Yami groaned slightly as he drew. "Perfect…" He glanced at his new card, barely paying attention to it at first.  His eyes moved back for a second look, however, and he grinned. "I'll pay 500 Life Points to play Monster Reborn, and bring back my Dark Magician!" (Yami's LP: 2000) "And because he was revived from the Graveyard, the Dark Magician Girl loses the 300 extra attack points.  Dark Magician!  Dark Magic Attack!" The DMG cried out slightly as she was destroyed, and the shadow of the Dark Necrophia behind her faded out of existence. (Bakura's LP: 1800) "Your turn now, tomb robber."

"Hmm…" Bakura drew, looked at his next card, and grinned. "About time."

"Dark Sanctuary?"

"How'd you ever guess?" Bakura played the card, and Yami groaned.  The evil spirit would obviously possess his Dark Magician, considering it was the only monster on his side of the field, which meant he couldn't attack with it next turn. "And then I'll activate Toll, which means you now have to pay 500 Life Points each time you attack."

"You do remember the effect of your Chain Energy card, don't you, tomb robber?"

Bakura smirked. "Well, yes, but at this point, I don't care too much." (Bakura's LP: 800) "So now it's your turn."

Yami drew and set his card facedown, paying the 500 Life Point price to do so.  Now the real challenge began.  If he summoned another monster, he'd have to pay 500 more LP, but if he didn't, he wouldn't be able to destroy Bakura's monster.  If he even attacked, he'd lose even more Life Points… Yami sighed in frustration.  Bakura saw this and grinned.

"Having trouble, Pharaoh?"

Yami glared at him. "Never.  I'll summon Gamma, the Magnet Warrior, and end my turn." (Yami's LP: 1000)

Bakura gave him an odd look. "Well, that was a waste of Life Points." Yami shrugged, and Bakura continued, "Anyway.  I think I'll set another card facedown and it's your move." (Bakura's LP: 300)

Yami drew and decided to activate his facedown trap. "Dust Tornado!" The whirlwind of leaves appeared on Yami's side of the field, waiting for directions on which card to destroy.  Yami hesitated for a moment, then decided which card annoyed him the most. "Destroy the Toll card!"

Bakura looked surprised. "Not Dark Sanctuary?"

Yami shook his head. "At least with that, I have a chance of my attack working and me not losing Life Points.  With Toll, I would only be able to attack one more time."

"True… So what now, Pharaoh?"

"Hmm…" Yami stared at his two monsters for a moment in indecision.  If his Dark Magician was the one that was possessed and it attacked, he'd lose, so… "Gamma!  Attack!"

"Wrong monster, Pharaoh!" Bakura sang.  Yami groaned as the attack rebounded back at him. (Yami's LP: 250) (Bakura's LP: 1050)

"Great…" the Pharaoh muttered.  What he really needed now was something that could destroy _all_ of Bakura's magic and trap cards… unfortunately, he didn't have Harpie's Feather Duster in his deck.

"My turn?" Bakura asked cheerfully.  Yami nodded, slightly annoyed that the tomb robber was acting like he had already won the game.

"All right then!  Now how to finish you off… Hmm…" Bakura stared at the cards in his hand for a good two minutes.  Starting to get bored, Yami glanced around, looking for something interesting, but since they were in the Shadow Realm, nothing was to be found.  He saw Malik with his arm resting on Yugi's head and glared at him.  The Egyptian teenager grinned sheepishly and removed his arm, much to Yugi's relief.

Yami sighed and turned back to the duel. "Hurry up, tomb robber."

"Don't rush me." Yami sighed again and leaned against the back of the platform, closing his eyes.  Nothing was to be heard except for Bakura's mumbling and Malik's complaints of, "Hurry up and get on with it already!"

The Pharaoh's eyes suddenly snapped open. "Bakura!" he yelled, the Shadow Game quickly forgotten. "Did you hear that?"

The tomb robber looked up. "Hear what, Yami?  Are you trying to distract me?"

Marik shook his head. "I heard it, too.  Just _listen_, Bakura."

"Why?" But the white-haired Egyptian obeyed, closing his eyes and concentrating like Yami had been.  A couple seconds later, he heard it, too: the sound of distant cries and screaming.  But it wasn't coming from anywhere in the Shadow Realm…

He opened his eyes and the three spirits yelled simultaneously, "Another monster!"

Bakura quickly unraveled the spell that had summoned the Shadow Realm around them, revealing the real world.  The meadow where they stood hadn't yet been discovered, but the screams were a lot closer now.

"This way!" Yami yelled, taking off in the direction of the noises.  The rest of the group quickly followed, running as fast as they could toward the source of the commotion.

"You know life's gotten weird when you're running _toward_ the screams," Malik muttered to Yugi and Ryou.  The other two nodded agreement.

They quickly reached the playground, which was a scene of complete chaos.  People were running in every direction, screaming their heads off, and children were crying as they stumbled away from the sandbox.  The thing that immediately caught their attention, however, was the huge… something… that stood there, swinging its axe and neatly cutting the slide in half.

"Vorse Raider," Marik breathed as soon as he saw the gigantic horned ogre-looking thing. "Level four.  Attack 1900, defense 1200, Beast-Warrior, dark type."

"That's all very nice, but stop listing the stats and just DESTROY IT ALREADY!" Malik screamed in his ear.  The former slave winced.

"All right, all right…"

"This one'll be hard to beat without a sacrifice monster," Bakura noted. "Pretty high attack, that one."

"This one's mine!" Yami told them, stepping forward and pulling a card out of his deck.  It flashed golden for a moment before the image emerged from the card and grew larger, zooming towards the Vorse Raider. "Spell-Binding Circle!" The monster roared as its arms were bound to its sides by the trap card, and it struggled to escape.

"How much longer will that hold?" Yugi asked, watching the Vorse Raider in fascination. "It's supposed to be a permanent trap, isn't it?"

"Didn't Bakura say something about permanent spells and such?  That they tend to wear out?" Ryou added.

"I'm afraid that in this case, Bakura's right," Yami muttered, searching through his deck for a monster with over 1200 attack.  Someone else beat him to it, however.

"Headless Knight!" The monster appeared from the card and swung its sword at the trapped Vorse Raider.  Its 1450 attack points allowed it to quickly annihilate the opposing monster.

"Hey!" Yami yelped, turning on a certain white-haired thief. "I was going to do that!"

Bakura smirked. "Well, you'll have to be faster than that, Pharaoh," he answered, recalling his Knight back to its card.

"I said _I_ was going to destroy that monster!"

"Well, you were taking so long that I decided to spare you the trouble."

"_Spare me the trouble?_ I was about to win that Shadow Game!"

"You're obviously unaware of the fact that I had Ouija Board facedown and was about to activate it!"

"_About to activate it?_  You were taking forever with just the cards in your hand!  And you complain about ME being slow!"

"Think we should stop them before they get into another fight?" Yugi muttered to Ryou.  The other boy shrugged.

"Yeah… probably…" the two moved to try and calm their previous incarnations.  As soon as they were gone, Malik turned to Marik, smirking.

"Pay up, spirit."

Marik glared at him. "For what?"

Malik grinned. "The bet, of course.  Bakura would've won."

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do.  And besides," Malik said flippantly, "he was winning by 800 Life Points.  Though they didn't finish the duel, if you look at that point in time, Bakura won."

"But the duel WASN'T finished!" Marik pointed out. "We were betting on the duel, not on some specific point in time!"

"Just pay up, Marik."

"Why should I?!?"

Malik paused, blinking as he realized something. "Marik… you don't even HAVE a thousand yen, do you?"

Marik sweatdropped. "Maybe… just explain to me what exactly a 'yen' is and I'll tell you."

Malik sighed. "Forget it."

"Well, isn't this amusing?" a new voice commented from behind Malik and Marik. "It seems that your personalities haven't changed at all over the past five thousand years… and that Yami and Bakura have lost none of their skills."

All arguments instantly forgotten, all three spirits turned towards the source of the voice and snarled, "Seth!"

The former High Priest of Egypt stepped out of the shadows, chuckling slightly. "Nice to know I haven't been forgotten after all of these years," he said reminiscently. "Nice to see you again, tomb robber, slave… Pharaoh," he nodded to each of them in turn, though the last was said in a mocking tone and with a slight sneer.

"What do _you_ want, Seth?" Marik asked, growling slightly.

"Nothing in particular," Seth answered mildly. "Just wanted to see if any of you have lost your touch over the years.  Apparently not."

"So you're Seth," Malik said, his eyes narrowed. "Just to let you know, there's no way YOU are going to be able to beat all of US." He gestured at the whole group, then smirked. "By all the sands of Egypt, we're going to take you down."

Seth turned his eyes to the three teenagers. "So these are your incarnations?" he asked the three spirits. "Pathetic.  Though I must admit, the blond has your attitude, Marik."

Bakura's hand moved to his back pocket, where he had hidden the switchblade. "Get lost, Seth, before I slit your throat," he muttered murderously.

"Same as always," Seth sighed, shaking his head. "Fine, I'll go.  Just one thing…"

"Yes?" Yami asked, glaring at him.

Seth smirked. "I think you handled my servant rather well.  I'll be going now.  Oh, and if you happen to see my reincarnation around, tell him I said hi."

"And your incarnation's name is…?"

Seth's face twisted into a sneer. "Seto.  Seto Kaiba." And with that said, his robes swirled once and he was gone.

Malik sat down heavily. "So Kaiba IS the reincarnation of Seth… I guess I'm lucky he didn't try to kill me, but why?"

Yami shrugged. "Maybe it's like I said before, they don't get along.  It certainly didn't seem like it."

The group sat in silence for a while, pondering this new turn of events, when a distant noise cut through the air.  Ryou immediately sprang up. "Sirens!  We should've known.  The police are coming to check out what happened here, and they'll think we're behind it!"

"Police?" Marik asked, looking interested.  Malik groaned.

"Now is NOT the time," he muttered. "Let's go!"

They all turned to leave in different directions, but Yugi paused for a moment. "Oh… wait." The others turned to him, giving him a questioning look, and Yugi dug in his pocket for a moment and pulled out the two booster packs.  He handed one to both Ryou and Malik. "I just thought… if we're going to be fighting Duel Monsters, it might help if we have some new cards." The other two nodded and pocketed the packs before running off.

"Let's go, Yugi," Yami muttered. Yugi nodded and followed him, then paused.

"Wait… Yami, this isn't the way to the Game Shop."

The Pharaoh glanced behind him. "I know, but we'll have to take a different route.  That one's blocked by the police.  Come on, hurry up." He broke into a sprint, and Yugi followed.  Five minutes later, they were out of the park.

The two slowed to a walk as soon as they could no longer see the police cars and decided to take a more roundabout way to the Game Shop.  It wasn't one that Yugi took very often, considering it was one of the more rundown sections of town, but it was a lot better than getting caught by the police.

It was when they were passing one of the alleys that they heard a girl scream.  Yugi froze at the sound and peered down the sidestreet, only to see a bunch of punks crowded around a whimpering girl.  He hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "I want to help her, but I can't really do anything," he muttered, then turned to Yami hopefully. "Is there anything you can do?  With your magic, and all…"

The Pharaoh didn't answer for a moment.  Something about the girl had stirred something in his memory… he thought he recognized her from somewhere.  He shook it off quickly, though. "Yeah, I should, shouldn't I…" he murmured. "All right, then.  Watch closely, Yugi." He stepped into the alley, and the shorter boy followed behind.

Yami cleared his throat, catching the attention of the bullies. "Leave her alone."

"And why should we?" the leader of the pack snarled.

Yami sighed. "Fine, if you want to do this the hard way…" He pulled a pair of dice out of his pocket. "Lowest roll wins, but if you get two of the same number, you automatically lose.  If you win, you get her," he gestured to the girl, who he was now sure he recognized from somewhere, "and if I win, you get out of here.  Deal?"

"Only if I get to use you and the kid as punching bags when I win," the leader said.  Yugi's eyes grew huge at this, but he said nothing.  Yami nodded.

"I'll roll first," he said, tossing the dice.  They rolled along the ground for a bit before coming to a stop at his opponent's feet.

"A five and a six," the other noted. "Easy enough to beat." He bent down, picked up the dice, and also rolled them.  The first one came to a stop quickly, showing a one…

The leader smirked. "Well, look at that.  There's no way you can win now."

"Are you sure about that?" Yami asked calmly, letting the other die roll until it stopped in front of him… showing another one.  The Pharaoh smirked. "Two of the same.  Looks like I win."

"What?!?" his opponent looked completely shocked for a second before he regained his composure. "Whatever.  Get him!"

"Is THIS the part you wanted me to watch closely?" Yugi yelped as the whole gang rushed towards them.

"Yup.  Get ready, Yugi!" Yami held out his hand, palm facing the punks, and yelled, "Mind Crush!"

As one, the whole gang suddenly collapsed, their souls trapped in the Shadow Realm.  Yami grinned. "That's one way to take care of bullies…" Remembering the girl, he turned to her, where she was huddled against the wall. "Are you okay?" She nodded.

"What's your name?" Yugi asked curiously.  The girl turned to him.

"I'm Serenity.  Serenity Wheeler."

"Wheeler?" Yugi asked.  Serenity nodded, and he blinked. "I think I know your brother…"

"You mean Joey?"

"Yup, that's him, all right.  We go to the same school."

"Really?" Serenity smiled brightly. "Do you want to come with me to our place?  I'm sure he'd like to see you."

"Well, um…" Yugi was about to decline, but Yami cut him off.

"We'd love to, Serenity." Maybe this was his chance to find out why he recognized this girl.  
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As Serenity opened the door to their apartment, Yugi turned to Yami.  Hissing slightly, he whispered, "Why'd you have to accept?"

Yami blinked. "You mean you don't like this Joey?"

"Let's just say he's not what I'd consider a friend."

"Then why'd you mention him?"

"Beats me."

"Joey?" Serenity called. "Joey, are you home?"

The blond teenager came out of the hallway, smiling when he saw his sister. "Yeah, I'm here.  What's up?"

Serenity smiled back at him. "Well, I was attacked by some guys on the way home, but these two saved me!  They said they're friends of yours from school."

"Hmm?" Joey peered around Serenity and did a double take when he saw who it was. "Yugi?  Is that you?"

"Uh, yeah.  Hi Joey," Yugi mumbled, looking at the floor and wishing he were anywhere but there at the moment.

"Serenity, can you go and make lunch in the kitchen or something?" Joey asked.  She nodded and left, and he turned to Yugi.

"Sorry to bother you," the shorter boy muttered. "It's just that she asked us to come with her and-"

"Thanks, Yugi," Joey said softly.  Yugi looked up in surprise, and he continued, "Thanks for looking after her for me.  I really owe you one for this… and I guess I'm sorry for what I've been doing to you in school." Yugi stared at him. "I didn't know you were such a nice guy, that you would help her even when her brother-" he stopped. "Thanks."

Yugi blinked. "It wasn't really a problem…"

"Still, thanks anyway.  Is that guy your brother?"

"Huh?" Yugi turned around to see Yami, who he had totally forgotten about. "Uh, yeah.  Yami, meet Joey.  Joey, Yami."

"It's nice to meet you," Joey said, extending his hand to Yami for a handshake.

Yami stared at him. "Jou…"

Joey looked completely confused. "Huh?"

Yami shook his head, snapping himself out of it. "Nothing.  It's nice to meet you, too," he said, shaking Joey's hand.

"Yeah.  Is there anything I can help you with, since you saved my sister and all?" Joey asked.

"Um, yeah, sort of…" Yugi muttered. "You're a good duelist, aren't you, Joey?"

"Sort of… but what's that got to do with anything?"

"Well, you see, we've been having some problems lately, and we were wondering if you could help…"

"What sort of problems?" Joey asked, cocking his head to the side slightly. "And what's it got to do with Duel Monsters?"

"It's sort of…" Yugi paused. "You might think I'm crazy, but-"

"Don't worry about it," Yami cut him off. "Thanks for the offer, but we'll handle it ourselves."

"You sure?" Joey asked. "If you need help…"

"We're fine," Yami assured him. "We'll be going now." With that, he grabbed Yugi's wrist and all but dragged him out the door.

Once outside, Yugi snatched his wrist from Yami's grasp and looked at the spirit like he were crazy. "What was that about?  Joey's _good_ at Duel Monsters, he could help us…"

"No," Yami stated.  Yugi stared at him, and he repeated, "No.  I'm not going to let him get dragged into this."

"But why not, Yami?"

"Because," Yami closed his eyes, "because in his past life, he was my best friend.  In his past life, he was killed fighting Seth.  And there's no way I'm going to let that happen again."

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And there you go!  Next chapter up before winter break ended, like I said. ^_~ Sorry it's so short this time.  Kinda ran out of things for them to do in this chapter.

Reviews please!  Reviewers get… um… pocky!  And flames will be used to light a couple fireworks!  Your hint for the "mystery card" this time: think chains.  That's it!  Now review!


	6. School Can Be VERY Dangerous

Pocky this time goes to hobbitfeet13 and HongMing.  In answer to your question, HongMing, no, Serenity isn't blind because this is an alternate universe and I said she isn't. ^_~ Okay, on with the chapter!

A couple new notes:

/Kaiba to Seth/

//Seth to Kaiba//

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!  Just a bunch of cards, ten issues of Shonen Jump, two booster tins, a bunch of games, two posters, a bunch of drawings, and… that's about it.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Five

School Can Be VERY Dangerous

It was all over the news that night – the appearance of the creature in the park seemed to be on every channel, and most of them seemed to have somehow found out that the monster was indeed a Duel Monster.  This, of course, caused all the paranoid people to freak out, all the psychics to predict the end of the world, all the stock market experts to predict a crash, all the police to try and control various riots, and all the normal people to roll their eyes and dismiss it as a freak accident or a case of mass hallucination.  Or at least, they tried to.  Even if it _was_ a hallucination, they had yet to explain away why the slide was currently in two pieces.

Even stranger to the people was the fact that the monster had just suddenly vanished, for no particular reason.  Everyone had at that point run away, so no one had seen what actually happened.  There were no traces as to where it had gone.  Inquiries about the monster to anyone who might know about it turned out to be dead ends – Industrial Illusions claimed that they knew nothing about it, and that there was no way they would be able to create a real monster like that even if they wanted to, much less make it disappear without anyone knowing where it had gone.  Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corp., the makers of holographic technology for the game, refused to comment, though a spokesperson for the company said they knew absolutely nothing about what had happened and pointed out that, if the monster had originated from Kaiba Corp., many more people would have seen it and there would be an incriminating path of destruction from the company to the park.  Later police investigations revealed nothing, showing that there was nothing there that could have created a real monster, just the usual holographic technology, none of which could have made the monster as real as it appeared to be.  With the police and government unable to say for sure what had caused the incident, the people of Domino City were left to try and make their own explanations.  Some said it must have been some natural gas that caused an illusion, some said it was just some prankster dressed up in a costume (but failed to mention that no prankster was that big or could swing an axe that heavy), and some said it was an invasion by aliens.  Joey Wheeler rolled his eyes at all of these ideas and turned off the TV, trying to think up his own explanation for what had happened.

Now, Joey wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box, but even he could put two and two together, even if he didn't end up with four.  The news said a Duel Monster had appeared in the park, and out of nowhere, Yugi just suddenly sprang up and asked about his dueling skills for no reason at all.  The first explanation that came to mind was that Yugi had had something to do with the appearance of the Vorse Raider.  His first thought was that Yugi was the one who had made or summoned or brought the monster into being, but he decided against that almost immediately.  The Vorse Raider had caused mass destruction of the playground, and Yugi wasn't exactly the type to be involved in that sort of stuff.  Heck, he didn't even stand up for himself!  That Yami kid might have something to do with it, though, since he shushed his little brother almost immediately after Yugi mentioned Duel Monsters… or maybe Yugi was in on it, too, and his innocence was just an act.  But then, if it was just an act, then why did they save Serenity?  Joey was sure that they didn't know he had a little sister, so they must have just found out when they rescued her.  And if they _were_ bad and hadn't saved her, then they would never have come to his home, and they wouldn't have asked about Duel Monsters… which led him back to square one.

"Argh!  I'm so confused!" the blond yelled out suddenly, messing up his hair in frustration. "They _seem_ nice enough, sure, but I know they've got something to do with it!"

"Joey?" Serenity asked, coming out of the kitchen to stare at her older brother. "What're you talking about?"

"Yugi and Yami," Joey answered. "I was thinking they might have a connection to this Duel Monster stuff that happened in the park."

"Really?" Serenity cocked her head. "They seemed nice enough guys to me.  Maybe you're just imagining things.  I don't think they would cause trouble like that on purpose."

"No, probably not," Joey muttered. "I guess you're right.  But maybe they didn't start the trouble.  Maybe they were the guys who got rid of the monster!  Maybe," he said, continuing along that train of thought, "they're secret agents for the government whose job it is to keep this stuff from happening and they messed up today!  And maybe Yugi found out about my awesome dueling skills and decided they might want to hire me!"

Serenity giggled. "And what're the chances of that, Joey?"

"Next to impossible," her brother muttered, slightly deflated. "Oh well.  It was a fun thought while it lasted." And as the two siblings laughed at Joey's overactive imagination, neither even guessed how close he almost got to the truth.  
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As Malik and Marik rode up to the Ishtar home, they were greeted with an open front door and a very angry Isis.  Malik's sister strode up to them, glaring fiercely at the two boys.  Both of them winced.

"Just WHERE have you two been?" she snapped, looking angrily at the two. "You said you went to the park, but that was hours ago!  And then there was the report of the monster that appeared at the playground!  You should've called to say you would've been late!"

Malik flinched slightly. "Sorry, Isis, but it kinda slipped our minds.  We were talking at the park and then heard about the monster, and we started wondering about where it came from… I guess we lost track of time after the Vorse Raider appeared."

His sister's eyes narrowed. "Vorse Raider?  How did you know what kind of monster it was?  They only said it was a Duel Monster, but they didn't specify what kind."

Marik sweatdropped. "Well, we were there when it appeared, and that's what it looked like to us, before we got out of there…"

"And WHY didn't you tell this to the police?"

"We thought someone else might tell them, and besides, we really didn't want to talk to them!" Malik squeaked. "But they must know, if they said it was a Duel Monster."

"You were avoiding the police," Isis said calmly. "And you said you were there when it happened." Marik started to nod, but stopped abruptly when Malik elbowed him in the side sharply.

"Um… no?" the spirit said hopefully.  Isis didn't buy it for a second, though.

"You had something to do with it," she said quietly, glaring at the duo.

"No, of course not, Isis!" Malik said hurriedly. "Why would we do something like that?"

Isis studied their faces for a moment, then sighed and turned away. "Fine, don't tell me if you don't want to," she mumbled, walking back inside. "I don't believe you boys would do it anyway.  But what I do know is that you're involved in it somehow, and I plan to figure out what you have to do with it sooner or later."

Marik and Malik exchanged a quick glance and followed her in.  Marik whispered to Malik, "You'll have to tell her eventually, you know."

"I know," Malik muttered back. "I just don't want her to get involved in this before she has to."

"She will, all right," Marik said matter-of-factly. "Her only being the most respected priestess and diviner in all of Egypt in her previous life." Malik shot him a surprised look.

"And why didn't you tell me this before?" he hissed. "She IS my sister, after all."

Marik shrugged, grinning. "I decided to save it for later.  And she can take care of herself.  She IS your sister, after all." He walked off upstairs, chuckling quietly to himself, leaving Malik death-glaring at his back.  
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Yami watched over Yugi's shoulder as the shorter boy separated the cards in his deck, counting out the number of magic, trap, and monster cards and adding and taking out cards where he saw fit.  He would occasionally give his lighter half a couple pointers and pick up some cards and read the text on them.  Seeing this, Yugi gave the Pharaoh a strange look.

"I thought your deck was exactly the same as mine, so why would you need to look at what the cards do?"

Shrugging, Yami replaced the card he had just grabbed. "Well, apparently not.  I guess the game has evolved a little since I last played it… I don't recognize some of the cards.  It's a bit more complicated now… it was so much simpler back when we played it.  I guess my advisors adjusted it a bit after we were sealed away.  Lack of a better thing to do, probably."

Yugi blinked. "So what you're saying is that your skills may be a little rusty?"

The Pharaoh looked slightly hurt. "I didn't say that.  The cards that Seth has haven't changed to fit this new era either, so I have all the skills… I'm just saying, if we want to catch him off guard, we may need to know a little more about Duel Monsters.  I could also use some new cards."

Yugi smiled slightly. "All right then… so have you heard of archfiends?"

"Nooo…"

"How about Spirit monsters?"

"Not those, either."

"All right then, we'll start with those.  They're a special type of effect monster that can't be Special Summoned, and it's returned to your hand at the end of the turn that you summon it.  They also have an effect that's activated when you Normal Summon, Flip Summon it, or flip it face-up… Here, let me show you…"

A couple hours and at least ten booster packs later, Yami had completely grasped the concepts related with the new cards.  As he sorted through his new cards and added it to his deck, Yugi realized that he'd spent half of his money already, sighed, shrugged, and decided to splurge the rest of it on booster packs for the other two spirits.  Lucky him that his grandfather owned a Game Shop.

Speaking of his grandfather… After modifying their decks, Yugi and Yami turned back to their lessons which had been interrupted, and decided to try bringing magic cards to life.  After a slow step-by-step process and several failed attempts to get just the right type of magic, some of which resulted in lamps breaking and a few toys being sent to the Shadow Realm, Yugi finally found just the right frequency of magic.  Sensing this, Yami told him and encouraged him to choose a magic card from his deck and try it out.

"All right then…" Yugi closed his eyes, focusing on the card and the magic type he had picked out.  Holding it out, he yelled, "Mystical Moon!" Hoping for the best, he opened his eyes, expecting to see nothing… but was contradicted by the giant yellow orb hanging in the living room.  Punching the air in joy, he yelled, "Yes!  I did it!" His happy dance was interrupted almost before it had begun with a gasp at the doorway.

Turning, both spirit and normal teenager went wide-eyed at the sight of a familiar old man, standing there and staring at them with eyes as wide as saucers.  Yugi's eyes also widened at the sight of his grandfather, and he squeaked, "Grandpa!  What're you doing here?" Noticing his grandfather's eyes on the moon, he quickly recalled it and turned back to the old man. "I can explain, really I can…"

"Well, it had better be a good explanation," Solomon Muto muttered.

Taking turns, Yami and Yugi explained about the cards and everything they knew about why the monsters were coming to life.  Grandpa took it pretty well, nodding every once in a while and making comments.  When they were finally done, he turned to Yami and asked, "So you say you were a Pharaoh in your life in Egypt?" Yami nodded. "Well, then who was I?"

"You were Simon, one of my advisors and close friends," the Pharaoh answered without hesitation. "You also taught me quite a bit about Duel Monsters."

At that, Grandpa smiled and turned to Yugi. "Well, how about that.  Does that sound familiar to you, Yugi?" The short boy grinned, understanding what he meant.  Turning serious again, Solomon said, "If you're really out to save the world, there is little I can do to help.  But I think there's one thing…"

"What is it?" Yugi asked, cocking his head to the side.

From one of his pockets, Solomon withdrew a small box, opening it to reveal a card in a plastic case.  Reverently removing the case, he handed the card to Yugi, winking at his grandson. "It's my most prized card.  Use it well, for I think you may need it."

Both Yugi and Yami stared at the card for a moment, struck absolutely speechless. "A… Blue-Eyes White Dragon," Yami muttered. "In Egypt, there were only three of those, and all of them belonged to Seth…"

"Did they now?" Grandpa asked, his eyes sparkling slightly. "Well, one against three can't exactly be considered a fair fight, but it'll even the odds a little."

Yugi nodded, slightly dumbstruck. "Thanks, Grandpa.  This'll help… a lot…"  
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Walking briskly into his mansion, nothing struck Seto Kaiba as wrong at first.  Within a few minutes, however, he noticed that it was quieter than it should be: much more quiet.  None of the usual maids were around the place, except for the oldest one, who was sweeping around the upstairs bedrooms.  The chauffeur had obviously sensed that something was amiss; he had left hurriedly as soon as Kaiba exited the car.  And worst of all, Seth hadn't appeared to him at all since two days ago.  Normally, he wouldn't mind being rid of the so-called former high priest, but this was worrying him a little.  No doubt Seth would stir up any trouble that he could.

Sitting down to drink his coffee, Kaiba entertained the notion that the priest might have poisoned it, but dismissed the thought almost as soon as it came to him.  Seth needed him; he had said so himself.  So why would he kill his reincarnation?  But if that wasn't going on, what was?  Kaiba pondered that thought as he took a sip of his coffee.  When he was almost to the bottom of the cup, he concluded that maybe Seth didn't want to kill him after all; maybe he just wanted him to cooperate.  Well, there was no way he'd do that voluntarily, and the crazy priest knew that well enough.  But if he needed Kaiba's help, then just how far would he go to obtain it?  Most threats wouldn't get to him, and Seth knew it.  Most threats… except one…

The CEO suddenly realized what had been different when he had arrived.  No laughter, no being glomped around the waist, no "Hi, big brother!  I'm glad you're back!"  In other words… no Mokuba.

Standing up and shoving his chair aside, Seto yelled, "Mokuba?" No answer.  Trying to keep the panic out of his voice, he called again, "Mokuba!" Still nothing.  By now, the first signs of fear were starting to appear, and he allowed himself to panic slightly. "Mokuba?  Where are you?  Answer me!" Getting no reply, he bolted upstairs, heading for his little brother's room.  Throwing open the door, he searched the room.

The boy wasn't on the bed, taking a nap… nor had he been in the living room, watching TV when he had passed it.  The game room held no clues either… Kaiba collapsed on the couch in the loft, panting as he ran through all the possible places where Mokuba could be.  His thoughts were interrupted by a soft sound, the sound of a broom softly sweeping against the floor.  His first instinct was to kill the person who was keeping him from finding his brother.  His second was to ask her where his brother was.

Darting outside, Kaiba quickly located the maid.  Grabbing her by the collar and slamming her against the wall (and nearly giving her a heart attack in the process), he demanded, "Where is he?  Tell me where Mokuba is!"

The old maid stared at him in fright for a second before stammering out, "I-I don't know, Mr. Kaiba sir.  He left the house at around three-thirty and said he was going to go visit you.  I thought he came home with you."

Kaiba gave her a look of disbelief for a second before he removed his hand and let her crumple to the floor. "He didn't come," he said, half to himself. "Mokuba never made it to Kaiba Corp."

His head hanging slightly, deep in thought, Kaiba wandered back to the loft, pondering what he had just learned.  Who had taken Mokuba?  One of his business rivals, maybe?  Someone out for revenge?

A piercing cry interrupted this train of thought, and Kaiba looked up instinctively, wondering how whoever it was had gotten into the mansion.  The person screamed again, and this time he recognized the voice.  Kaiba's eyes widened. "Mokuba!"

The shadows in the corners lengthened until they enveloped the whole room in darkness, and a small video screen or something of the sort appeared before Kaiba's face.  It showed his little brother, struggling against the clutches of someone stronger than him.

"Let me go, you creep!" the boy was screaming. "My brother'll get you for this!  I know what you want him for, he told me!  And he'll rescue me without having to give into your demands!"

"I don't know about that," replied another voice, this one sending chills down Kaiba's spine.  He knew that voice, the one that sounded so much like his own… and he knew who it belonged to. "But I do know that your brother won't let anything happen to you.  And where I'm taking you…" he chuckled darkly. "Seto Kaiba can't follow.  He can't rescue you this time, little Mokuba.  And he'll have to listen to me if he doesn't want to see you dead." The same darkness overcame the two of them, and as they disappeared into the Shadow Realm, the scene faded and the shadows retreated back to their corners, leaving Kaiba staring at the place where his brother's face had been.

"Seth," he muttered, his voice colder than even his eyes. "You took him.  And I'm going to make you give him back.  I swear it, Seth."

Cold laughter began to fill the room, but still the priest was nowhere to be seen. "And is that with or without working for me, little Seto?"

As the evil chuckles continued, Seto dropped his head, staring at the floor. "I'm sorry, Mokuba," he whispered, hoping that what he was about to do wouldn't end up in total disaster.  
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It was Sunday.  Yugi, having decided that Yami needed to spend some time out after he had an argument with the neighbor over Duel Monsters rules, chose to go to an all-day tournament and see just how good the Pharaoh _really _was.  It was also a chance for him to try out his new deck, new strategies, new cards, and practice what he had learned yesterday.  Yugi himself wasn't going to compete; he didn't want anyone to find out about him until later, and that was definitely _not_ going to happen if they saw his new Blue-Eyes.

Of course, our spirit friends can't seem to go anywhere without a little commotion following, can they?  So it was that Yami ended up arguing with a referee.

"I'm telling you, he cheated!" Yami yelled, pointing at his opponent. "Look in his sleeve, he had a card hidden there!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I didn't see anything-"

"BELIEVE ME ALREADY, WILL YOU?  Geez, people these days!  Five thousand years ago they knew to respect their Pharaoh, it's either 'Yes, sir!' or you get your head chopped off, but nooo, these days everyone just _has_ to argue with me!"

The ref glanced at Yugi. "What's he talking about?"

The boy sweatdropped. "Don't mind him, he spends a little too much time daydreaming that he's a Pharaoh of Egypt.  Right, Yami? …Yami?" He glanced around when he noticed that the Pharaoh wasn't on his dueling platform anymore; rather, he was on his OPPONENT'S platform. "Yami!"

The spirit ignored him.  He grabbed his opponent's left hand, the hand his Duel Disk was on, and tore his sleeve apart, revealing… nothing.  The Pharaoh sweatdropped. "Um… oops?  Sorry."

"Hey, he saw my hand!" the other kid yelled, pointing at Yami.  The spirit's sweatdrop grew bigger.

"Uh-oh… guess we'll have to start over again." He turned and started walking away, before spinning around suddenly and pointing at the boy. "Hey!  I saw that!  You just slipped a card under your Duel Disk armband thing!  You're cheating!"

Yugi sighed and facepalmed. "Oh boy… here we go again…"  
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In another part of the tournament, two boys were dueling each other, and despite all his support in the audience, the taller one was losing.  The shorter boy, the one with slightly spiky red hair and green eyes, watched his opponent calmly, ignoring the fangirls that were booing him.

"Um… let's see now… I'll summon Wall of Illusion, in defense mode!" the taller boy yelled, placing the monster on the field.

"If that's all, it's my turn now," the redhead announced calmly, drawing his next card.  Without bothering to think about it, he summoned Thunder Nyan Nyan in attack mode without placing it on the Duel Disk and attacked the Wall of Illusion, his opponent's last defense.  Next, he attacked directly with Bazoo the Soul Eater, causing his opponent to scream in pain as the rest of his Life Points disappeared. "I win," he said.

The other boy stared at him. "What's up with that?  No attack should hurt that much, and to summon without using the holographic projectors… what's going on here?" He picked up a monster out of his Graveyard and held it up like the other boy had, to no avail.  He blinked. "I can't do it… what's going on here?"

As the officials rushed to the site to see what had happened, the red-haired duelist slid the Duel Disk off his arm, took out his deck, and tossed the gadget on the floor emotionlessly.  As everyone else tried to come up with an answer to the puzzle he had just presented him with, the reincarnation of Seth's second-in-command walked out the door of the tournament building, seeking a new challenge beyond what this place could offer.  
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Rumor spread quickly that someone had summoned a monster without a card, and though many of the details were garbled or exaggerated greatly by the time it reached Yugi's ears, he still knew what to make of it.

"Yami!" he hissed to the Pharaoh, who had finally beaten his "cheating" opponent. "There's someone else here who can use magic!  He supposedly summoned a few of his monsters without using the holographic technology!"

Yami barely glanced at him. "It was bound to happen sooner or later.  There are many people in this world who can naturally use some type of magic or another, especially those whose roots can be traced back to ancient Egypt.  By that, I mean those who have been reincarnated.  What did he look like?"

"Well, apparently he had red hair and green eyes… but he didn't leave a name with the tournament officials."

Yami's eyes narrowed. "Zake."  
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Yami won the tournament easily enough, proving to Yugi that he did indeed know what he was doing.  Along with that, they won a special promotional booster pack, allowing them to upgrade their decks a little, which would help a bit in their coming fights.  As predicted, the summoning of the real monster was on a couple of the news channels that night, but it was a little downsized.  Apparently, neither the sponsors of the tournament nor Kaiba Corp. wanted the public to hear too much about the incident, and to be truthful, neither did anyone else involved.

Yawning, Yugi turned to Yami. "G'night," he said, rubbing his eyes. "I guess we should be glad a monster didn't appear today, considering I have school tomorrow…"

"Technically, a monster _did_ appear, but it wasn't a wild one," Yami pointed out.  Yugi mock-glared at him.

"Technically."

"Yes.  Well, anyway, have a good night, Yugi, and I promise not to bother you unless it's something very, very important."

"Sure, whatever.  Good night."  
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Bakura made no such promises to Ryou, but although he didn't need it, the tomb robber liked to sleep whenever he could.  Best to get a bit of rest, so he could be completely energized if he needed it.  That was how, at 1:30 in the morning, he could be found sleeping in the guest bed in Ryou's house, tossing and turning and occasionally laughing in his sleep.  And who wouldn't, with the dream he was having?

They were in a desert somewhere.  Probably not the Sahara, since he hadn't seen any cacti in all the time he'd lived in Egypt.  Come to think of it, where'd he learn about cacti if they weren't in Egypt? …anyway.  Back to the dream.  So he dreamt he was in a desert with Yami and Marik, and surprisingly enough, they were having an argument.  At least, Yami and Marik were.  This time, it seemed that Bakura preferred to stay off to the side and laugh his head off at the pair of them.  And he had a good reason, too.  Not like he could've won an argument over whose hair was spikier.

So, Yami, being the King of Games and all, decided that they had to settle this with a game.  He pointed out two of the cacti, that amazingly enough looked exactly the same, so they were perfect for the contest.  Well, isn't that convenient?  Bakura pondered how this was for a while, before he shrugged and gave up, deciding that it was because this was a dream.

And the game?  There was only one way to decide whose hair was spikier: go up to one of the cacti and shove their heads against the spikes.  Somehow or another, our favorite white-haired tomb robber ended up being the judge.  He didn't mind anyhow.  All the better to witness the fun.  Plus he had one of those technological things.  Cameras, Ryou had called them.  All the better for blackmail.  Bakura grinned evilly.  This would be exciting.

The two contestants ran towards the cacti as fast as they could, heads down and ready to be stuck onto the spines.  They hit with all the force they could gather, and Bakura's laughter echoed above the cries of pain coming from the Pharaoh and the slave.  As they demanded to know who had won, the tomb robber rolled on the hot sands, unable to stop chuckling.  Deciding he needed to be punished, the two backed away from the cacti – or at least tried to.  They desperately tried to get away, their hair now stuck, each to a separate cactus.  As the tomb robber laughed even harder, their annoyed yells started fading away, along with the scenery.  Noticing this, Bakura stopped laughing and sat up, listening into the darkness.  Nothing, nothing that he could see or hear… but something that he could feel.  He concentrated on this something and realized with a start that it was magic – the magic that let a monster into the real world.

Bakura woke with a start, covered in cold sweat.  He sat bolt upright in bed, pushing his bangs away from his face as he searched with his instincts for the magic he had felt.  There it was – a few miles south of where they were now.  So it wasn't a dream after all.  Hurriedly getting up from bed, he went to fetch Ryou.  Their next challenge had come, and it couldn't have come at a worse time for the high school students than two in the morning.  
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Yami and Yugi got there first, living closest to the center of the disturbance.  Ryou and Bakura arrived a few minutes later, panting slightly for having run all the way, and Marik and Malik arrived last, riding on Malik's motorcycle.  Yami glared at Malik.

"Did you HAVE to take that thing along and wake half the neighborhood?  They'll think we're up to no good."

"Sorry," Malik muttered.  After a short pause, he added, "I don't see it yet."

"You wouldn't," Bakura replied tersely. "What we all sensed was the beginnings of the spell.  The monster itself should be coming soon."

"Could we stop it before it emerges?" Yugi asked in a hushed voice.

Marik shook his head. "Not unless we want to waste a lot of energy.  It's way easier to just destroy it when it appears." Everyone, the teenagers included, suddenly drew in a sharp breath, having felt the monster they had been waiting for.

"It's here."  
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Yami had been half-joking when he said Malik's motorcycle could wake half the neighborhood, but he was actually right.  Most people had just dismissed it as a passing vehicle and immediately gone to sleep, but there was one person who couldn't help but feel that he was missing someone.

Restless and unable to go back to sleep, Joey Wheeler climbed out of bed and pulled on a jacket and some jeans, heading outside for some fresh air.  When he got there, however, he was mildly surprised when he saw the motorcycle parked across the street.  What really caught his attention, though, was the three pairs of almost-twins in the center of the road, and the fact that half of them were in his class.

Darting behind a bush as close to the six as he could manage, Joey watched them, half in awe and half in suspicion. "Yugi and Yami Muto, Ryou Bakura, and Malik Ishtar…" he whispered softly. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"  
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At Yami's words, everyone reached for their decks and whatever weaponry they had, tense and ready for the fight.  Glancing at Ryou and Malik, Yugi quickly determined that they, too, had been practicing with their weapons of choice: Malik was holding his knives with a little more ease than before and Ryou's magical aura was slightly suppressed, but ready to be called into use at a moment's notice.

Seeing how ready the three "new kids" were, Bakura caught the gaze of the other two spirits and smiled slightly.  They nodded in response, and all three put away their decks and weapons and backed up a bit.

The three teenagers sent them surprised and confused looks, and Malik asked, "What are you doing?"

Yami smiled kindly. "You three have learned a bit about how to deal with these monsters, so we'll sit back and let you guys handle it this time.  You'll learn the value of teamwork this way."

"Don't worry, we'll step in before you get killed," Bakura smirked.  Ryou sweatdropped and paled slightly.

"Oh, thanks for the support, Bakura."

Malik grinned, raising one of his knives in a salute. "Don't worry, we can take care of this one.  Ready, guys?"

"As ready as we'll ever be." As one, the three turned toward the source of the disturbance, staring into the shadows and staying calm as the monster appeared.

Malik smiled slightly, recognizing it. "Bracchio-Raidius.  Level six, 2200 attack, and… that's all I know."

"That's all we need to know to beat this thing," Ryou breathed, his attitude suddenly changed. "I don't suppose either of you have any non-sacrifice monsters with over 2200 attack?" No answer. "Oh well.  I guess it was too much to hope for…"

"How about this?" Yugi said. "Ryou, you can distract it, Malik can summon a monster, and I'll sacrifice it.  Malik, you _have_ figured out how to summon monsters, right?"

"What do you think Ryou and I spent all of yesterday doing?" the Egyptian asked sarcastically. "Monsters are the most important cards in the game.  We both now how to do it now."

"All right then… ready?" Yugi asked.  The other two nodded grimly.

"Ready!"

Ryou let his magic shine out as he summoned a ball of pure magical energy.  He threw the shimmering ball of blue-white light straight at the dinosaur, and smiled slightly as it roared in pain, shaking its head and turning its head towards him.  It barreled in his direction, but he summoned a shield up quickly and sat back as it tried futilely to break it.

"He's gotten good, hasn't he?" Bakura noted proudly from his spot on the sidelines. "Took him maybe an hour to master that one, and it's pretty tough to break, even for me."

"That sure says a lot," Marik said dryly.  He was rewarded with a smack to the back of the head.

Meanwhile, Malik had grabbed the first card in his deck that came to hand and summoned it. "Holding Arms!"

Yugi sweatdropped slightly. "That's a weak monster…"

"Hey, it works for sacrifice, doesn't it?'

Yugi nodded. "Right!  Sacrifice Holding Arms for Summoned Skull!" The fiend appeared from the card and would've roared, if the boys hadn't shushed it.  No matter how hard they were fighting, it was still two-thirty in the morning, and they might as well let the residents get their sleep.

At this point, Ryou gave up on sustaining the shield any longer and dropped it, jumping to the side as the dinosaur leapt at him.  He conjured up a couple magic ropes and draped them around the Bracchio-Raidius, watching as it tried to break free. "Hey guys, now's as good a time as any!"

"Right!" Yugi responded. "Summoned Skull, Lightning Strike!" A huge roar of thunder preceded the lightning, and the dinosaur barely had time to look up before being incinerated.  Everyone who was watching winced at the noise.  So much for letting people get their rest.

"Come on!" Bakura hissed. "We'd better get out of here before anyone comes to check out what was going on!" They were about to leave when someone cleared their throat behind them, and the group of six froze.  Yugi turned around, and his eyes widened.

"Joey?!?"

"I saw the whole thing," the blond replied. "Why didn't you tell me before that you were trying to stop those things?  I would've helped…"

"No," Yami said firmly. "You have to stay out of this.  It's our job, and it wouldn't be right for us to drag you into it."

"But I WANT to help."

"No," Yami repeated, but softer this time. "It wouldn't be right for me to let you get killed… again."

"Again?" Joey questioned, looking puzzled.

"Yes.  Destiny repeats itself, and this is one thing I want to prevent." People's voices, coming from the nearby apartment complexes, startled Yami out of his reverie.  He shook his head to clear it, and then turned to the others. "Come on.  We've got to go." The six departed the scene, leaving Joey to stare after Yami thoughtfully.  
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"Note to self: NEVER fight at two A.M. again," Malik moaned the next morning, plopping down at his seat and putting his head on his desk with a groan. "I couldn't sleep at all after the incident last night.  How about you guys?"

The other two shook their heads, both looking as tired as Malik.  The Egyptian continued, "I don't care if half the city gets destroyed, or if the thing decides it wants to rule Japan: battles can wait until I'm well and fully awake and rested."

"It was on the news this morning, too," Ryou added. "They said another monster appeared, but didn't cause any damage… and they said six boys were also spotted on the scene." The three exchanged significant glances.

"Anything else?" Yugi asked, stifling a yawn.  Ryou shook his head, and he let out a sigh of relief. "Good.  No one can trace it back to us, then.  There are a lot of boys in Japan, so it's unlikely they'll figure out exactly who it was."

Malik sighed. "Well, if the attacks keep coming at night, they'll find out soon enough.  Wake me up when the bell rings." He closed his eyes and was asleep within seconds.

Ryou and Yugi were about to follow suit, but a hand on Yugi's shoulder stopped him.  He turned around to see Joey. "Joey?  Look, if it's about last night, then I can't help you.  Yami's a bit stubborn when it comes to things like this.  Sorry."

Joey shook his head. "That wasn't what I was going to ask about.  Sure, I still want to help, but what did he mean when he said that destiny repeats itself?"

Yugi shrugged. "Well, it's kinda complicated, but he's not really my brother.  He's the spirit of a Pharaoh who ruled five thousand years ago and who locked away the monsters in the first place.  Apparently, your previous incarnation died when fighting Seth, and he doesn't want it to happen again."

Joey blinked. "Well, if it's destiny, doesn't that mean he can't change it, no matter what he does?"

Yugi thought about that for a moment. "I'm not sure, but he definitely means to try." He turned to leave again, but Joey's voice interrupted him.

"So I guess that means I'll be helping out anyway?"

Yugi sweatdropped slightly, then nodded. "I guess, because if it's really destiny, then I guess we can't change it.  Just don't tell Yami I said this, though."

Joey nodded, grinning. "Never.  I'm sure Tristan would want to help out, too, if I asked him.  He would probably have a past life in Egypt too, wouldn't he?"

"I guess so, if you were Yami's best friend…"

"Great.  Now all that's left is to convince him that I'm not crazy."  
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Their next class was P.E.  Not something you'd really like to do in the morning, especially if you were going on roughly five hours of sleep.  Yawning, Ryou decided that he'd better pay attention this time around: they were doing fencing, which would definitely come in handy.  He was good at magic and could summon the cards, but if nothing else, knowing how to use a sword would be useful in a tight spot.  He tried his best to listen to what the teacher was saying, and it worked pretty well.  It was otherwise for Yugi, however; he kept almost nodding off and Ryou had to poke him to make him stay awake.  Malik wasn't having any trouble at all, but that was probably because he'd slept through half of first period.  Luckily for him, he hadn't been caught.

The teacher paired them off to practice; Yugi and Joey were partners, as well as Malik and Tristan.  And as for Ryou?  He got Seto Kaiba.  Oh joy.

As the two faced each other, Ryou stared at Kaiba and wondered idly if the CEO would try to kill him.  They were supposed to be enemies, after all.  Of course, this was P.E., so it might be harder than usual, especially since the teacher would notice… at the signal to begin, Kaiba lunged at Ryou and started attacking with such vigor that the white-haired boy started to think that he did indeed want to kill him.  As he tried desperately to parry every blow, Ryou started to think that maybe he should have taken those sword lessons from Bakura after all.  
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Malik and Tristan fenced regularly for a while, blocking and attacking without really trying their hardest.  As the two sped up their movements and started putting more effort into each attack, Malik noted that Tristan was pretty good at this.  He would be useful when fighting against the monsters.  The Egyptian didn't say anything, though, and it was a few minutes later when the brunette finally decided to breach the topic.

"Joey told me about what happened last night," Tristan said.

"And…?"

Tristan snorted. "I don't believe him.  I think he's lost it."

"Oh," Malik answered. "But if it was real?"

"There's no way it could be real.  It's just something you're all making up." Tristan answered calmly.

"Now, why would we do that?" Malik asked innocently. "We don't have anything to gain from this, and if you listened to the news this morning, they mentioned a lightning bolt that flew out of nowhere for no reason at all.  That was the Summoned Skull's attack."

"I still don't believe you," Tristan muttered.

"But if we weren't lying, and the whole thing was real," Malik asked, "what would you do then?"

Tristan regarded him thoughtfully. "I'd help, I guess," he said. "I wouldn't want the monsters to go rampaging around the city, destroying everything… and there's bound to be some people out there who would master them and use them for their own purposes."

"Exactly," Malik answered. "That's what we're doing.  So I guess we'll just have to take you along next time, show you what exactly we're doing.  Then will you believe?"

Tristan thought about that for a moment, then smirked. "Sure, why not?  If it is real, it'll make my life a lot less boring and a lot more fun."  
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Panting, Ryou blocked Kaiba's next attack and barely had the time to move out of the way before the taller boy attacked again.  He had no idea how he'd ever lasted this long; his arm was getting tired and he had no time to attack Kaiba himself between parries.  This was probably going to be the only time he ever regretted not listening to Bakura.

The sword came down, aiming for his helmeted head, but Ryou swung his up and to the side in an arc, effectively blocking it, moving it, and leaving Kaiba open for an attack on his right side.  Not wishing to miss his chance, the white-haired boy lunged forward and attacked.  Somehow or other, the attack miraculously connected, and Kaiba was caught by surprise.  Seizing this opportunity, Ryou swung upwards and knocked the blade out of Kaiba's hands.  Caught weaponless, Kaiba could only gasp as the fencing sword was leveled at his throat.

"_Very_ nice maneuver there, Mr. Bakura!" came the teacher's voice from behind Ryou, making both students jump. "I think you're a natural at this.  Now, it's time to go, so if you could take off the fencing suits and put everything away…"

Ryou barely heard her as he walked away, shaking his head to clear it of the sudden confusion he was feeling. "I beat Kaiba," he whispered. "Did I just beat Kaiba?"

An arm was suddenly slung over his shoulder, and he looked up to see Malik, fuchsia eyes sparkling. "Yup, you beat Kaiba," he teased. "You must be a natural at this.  Guess that comes from being Bakura's reincarnation, the tomb robber, the King of Thieves, one of the most talented blade fighters to ever walk the sands of Egypt-"

"Shut up, Malik," Yugi grumbled, walking up behind him and looking like the fencing had awakened him a little too much for his liking.

"Hi, Yugi.  Going to take a cold shower when we get in the locker rooms?" He was rewarded with two death-glares.  Malik just laughed and walked on.  
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As he was putting the fencing stuff away, Kaiba noticed that there was still a duel going on, between a red-haired boy and a girl.  Upon seeing the boy, something stirred in Kaiba's, or rather, Seth's memory, and a voice whispered in his mind, //Go talk to him.//

/Why should I?/ Kaiba snarled.  Seth chuckled.

//Because I have your brother, of course.  You want to hear him?// Kaiba's mind was suddenly full of screams, in a voice he knew all too well.

Seto winced. /Alright, I'll do it.  What do you want me to say?/

//Call him Zake.  And ask him… ask him if he remembers.//

/Remembers?  Remembers what?/

//You… or rather, me.  And the life he spent working under me as my most loyal servant.//  
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Lunchtime was a welcome relief to Yugi, Malik, and Ryou.  Not because they were hungry, of course, but because they could have a full thirty minutes of naptime without being yelled at by some teacher or another.

"I quote, 'Wake me up when the bell rings,' " Yugi moaned, throwing his backpack on one of the outdoor tables and cushioning his head on it.

"Don't count on it," Ryou mumbled. "I'm sleeping too.  What about you, Malik? …Malik?"

He was answered by a soft snore.  The other two sweatdropped. "Don't tell me he's already asleep…"

Malik was awakened roughly by a book hitting his head. "Wha-? Who did that?" He glanced at the textbook, which had Yugi's name on it, and glared at the shorter boy, only to see that he was asleep.  He groaned.

"Why do I have to wake you two up?" he complained.

Ryou cracked open one eye. "Because we woke you up in first period.  Now shut up and let us sleep." Before Malik had a chance to answer, the white-haired boy had dozed off again.

"Screw the bell," Malik muttered. "I'm sleeping anyway." But before he had a chance to try, a hand tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around.  His eyes widened. "What the-" he moved his head to the left, just in time to avoid the knife that had come at him.

Malik stared at the boy who held the blade in complete confusion. "Do I know you?" he asked, running through all the possible reasons this kid could hate him.  His mind drew a complete blank, except for one thing. "Wait… you're in my P.E. class, aren't you?"

The red-haired boy nodded. "My name is Zake," he answered, once again trying to stab Malik.  The Egyptian reacted quickly, rolling off the bench, grabbing the Swiss Army knife from out of his bag, and standing up again in one fluid motion.

"What do you have against me?" Malik yelled to Zake, who didn't answer.  By this time, a small crowd had begun to gather around the two, due to a couple juniors who were yelling "Fight!" at the top of their lungs.

Malik gave up on figuring out just why this guy was attacking him and concentrated solely on blocking his attacks.  He was determined not to attack until he figured out just what was going on here. "Are you working for Kaiba?" he demanded, dodging the knife as it stabbed at his left shoulder.  No answer. "What about Seth?"

A cruel grin spread over Zake's face, who looked delighted that Malik had finally figured it out. "Yes."

"Oh, that's it!" Malik yelled, finally deciding to go on the offensive.  The two were about equal in skill, so neither managed to hit the other; rather, they blocked all of the other's attacks, and all of their attacks were blocked.

The clanging of blades finally awoke Yugi and Ryou, both of whom sat up and rubbed their eyes, yawning. "What's going on?" Yugi asked, then caught sight of the fight.  That snapped him fully awake, and his eyes widened. "Malik!"

"Wha?" Ryou glanced up. "Whoa!  Malik, what're you doing?"

Joey and Tristan slid through the crowds to the table where Yugi and Ryou were sleeping. "He didn't start it," Joey panted, who had seen the whole thing. "The other guy attacked him first – with a knife."

"That kid – Zake – he said he was working for some Seth guy," Tristan muttered. "Heard of him?"

Yugi and Ryou gasped in unison. _"Seth?"_

Meanwhile, Malik and Zake were still battling it out.  Zake tried to stab at Malik, who dodged and slashed at Zake's hand.  A streak of blood appeared, and Malik's opponent dropped his blade.  Malik kicked it away before Zake could reach for it, and not quite knowing what else to do, he brought the knife to Zake's throat.

Behind him, Yugi gasped. "Malik!  What are you doing?!?"

Malik growled slightly. _'I'm not planning to kill him, it's just that I don't know what else to do!'_ "Alright, talk!  What's Seth up to?"

Zake smirked slightly. "I'm not telling."

Before Malik could do something he would later regret, three familiar figures pushed through the crowd.  Spotting who Malik currently had at knife-point, all three spirits gasped. "Zake!"

Yugi grabbed Yami's arm before the Pharaoh could do anything. "Yami!  What's going on?  Why're you here?"

Yugi's question was answered before Yami could even talk when a loud screech ripped through the air – a sound that Bakura recognized.

"A Blue-Eyes!" he hissed. "THAT'S the monster that we sensed?"

The huge dragon reared up above the crowds, screeching again as it powered up for a White Lightning attack.  Its mouth widened as it blasted away the track and soccer field.  Malik groaned.

"Aw, man!  Why couldn't it have attacked the school itself?" Yugi and Ryou sweatdropped.  None of them seemed to have noticed that Zake had disappeared, and Seto Kaiba was also nowhere to be seen.

"What is that thing?" Tristan gasped.  He and Joey were the only ones who didn't run away as fast as they could at the sight of the dragon, other than the spirits and Yugi, Ryou, and Malik.

Joey glanced at him, then returned his gaze to the dragon. "It's a Blue-Eyes, of course.  3000 attack." Tristan gulped slightly, and the blond grinned. "Hey, you wanted to see one of their battles, didn't you?"

Marik glanced anxiously at the teenagers. "Maybe we should take care of this one… it's Seth's signature monster, after all.  And it's one of his most powerful cards."

Yami shook his head, grinning slightly. "No, don't worry about them.  They'll be fine.  I know Yugi has a few tricks up his sleeve."

"I hope you're right…"

Yugi glanced at his two friends, grinning slightly. "I'll need two sacrifices this time around, and maybe a magic card to power down that Blue-Eyes or power up my monster…"

The other two nodded, also grinning. "Right!" Malik yelled. "Melchid, the Four-Faced Beast!"

"Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams!"

Yugi smirked slightly. "All right then… sacrifice both their monsters to summon my own!  Go, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

"And I'll equip his monster with this magic card!" Malik added. "Black Pendant!"

Yugi's Blue-Eyes's attack power was raised by 500 points, more than enough to wipe out the other monster.  As the two White Lightning attacks collided and Yugi's dragon's attack ripped through that of the other Blue-Eyes, Joey turned to Tristan, smirking. "Now do you believe?  What do you think now?"

Tristan stared at the scene for a moment, stunned, before he turned to his friend, grinning. "I think I want to help too."

A few seconds later, there was nothing left to show that two Blue-Eyes had fought there – well, except for the fact that there was nothing left of the field but a large crater.

"Nicely done," Bakura commented, grinning.

"Since when have you had a Blue-Eyes?" Malik demanded of Yugi.  The shorter boy grinned.

"Since my grandpa gave me his yesterday.  I didn't know he had it either."

"You managed to defeat my dragon," a voice said mildly.  Everyone turned to where the Blue-Eyes had been to see three people standing there: Seth, Kaiba, and Zake.

"Kaiba?!?" Malik cried, staring at him. "Since when have YOU been working with Seth?" Kaiba snorted and decided not to answer.

Seth smirked. "I see you have a Blue-Eyes of your own… but you should know that it isn't a good idea to show off your secret weapon before the final battle.  I can assure you that next time, your dragon will fall."

"Whatever," Bakura said offhandedly. "I beat _two_ of your dragons before, if you'll recall…"

"And then you ran away," Marik reminded him.  Bakura sweatdropped and laughed falsely.

"As much fun as this is, I must say that I'm sure we can all do better," Seth said calmly.  Yami blinked.

"What are you talking about?"

Seth gave them a cold smile. "This will be all over the news: the fourth real Duel Monster in three days that has appeared.  Soon, people will try to summon monsters themselves, and some will be able to do it… and then those who have… questionable… intentions will try and use them for their own purposes.  Needless to say, that'll cause a bit of chaos…"

"Not if we're here to stop it," Yami countered.

"Oh, but our battlefield will need a bit of upgrading… after all, battles in the real world are nothing compared to the strain of the Shadow Realm.  And if you're there, then who is going to protect the innocent citizens here in this real world?  Not your friends there, obviously.  Knowing the Pharaoh, he's too cowardly to risk the life of his friend again – especially knowing that he'll die." Yami scowled.

"There's no way you'll get us into the Shadow Realm, so there's no way you can cause chaos here." Marik pointed out.

Seth laughed. "Oh, we'll see about that, slave.  I have ways of making people do what I want… don't I, Seto?" Kaiba scowled at him, and Seth continued, "I guess we'll be going now.  See you… in the Shadow Realm." He, Zake, and Kaiba disappeared through a black portal that appeared behind him, leading into the Shadow Realm.

"What was he blabbering about?" Tristan wondered. "I mean, the Shadow Realm?  And what was Kaiba doing with that freak?"

"It's very, very complicated," Yami muttered. "What I'm more worried about is how he's going to lure us into the Shadow Realm."

"I don't know, but he obviously took something of Kaiba's, because there's no way they would be working together otherwise," Malik muttered, then blinked. "Something… or someone."

"That's right, Kaiba has a little brother," Yugi said. "So you think Seth kidnapped him?"

"Wait a minute," Yami said suddenly. "Someone's missing."

And as the others looked around, they noticed that he was right.  Instead of eight, there were only seven of them.  Seth had taken one of them with him to the Shadow Realm.  
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I was thinking of making this two shorter chapters, but decided against it. ^_~ So who do you think was taken?  And someone has yet to figure out what the mystery card is.  It was featured in Shonen Jump once, and that's all I'm telling you.

Hit the pretty purple button down there and review!  Flames will be used to barbeque Seth alive!  Reviewers get ramen!


	7. Into the Darkness

Ramen goes to Hikage Kitsune, hobbit13, and Shiros.  The card isn't Red-Eyes, Exodia, or Slifer, (though one of them's pretty darn close) and I don't plan on putting the god cards in here.  That would lead to the complication of exactly who holds them and how they're supposed to get the cards… so no.  I just realized something from the last chapter: Yugi's grandpa is NOT the reincarnation of Simon, though their names are somewhat the same.  I'm keeping it that way, though, because I don't know who he was reincarnated from.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned them.  Let's take a look at that sentence there, shall we?  "Wishing" means I want to.  Wanting to means I most probably don't.  In other words, I don't own them.  Well, except for Zake.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Six

Into the Darkness

Bakura glanced around, eyes widening as he realized just who it was who was missing. "Ryou?!?  Ryou, where are you?"  Despite all his cries, his reincarnation was nowhere to be seen.

Yami sighed, shaking his head. "Well, I guess that's what Seth meant when he said that he'd make us come there," he said. "He always did have a way of manipulating people like that."

Bakura grabbed Yami by the collar and lifted him up, slamming him against the wall of the school. "Look, Pharaoh, I don't care why Seth did it and if he thinks he can manipulate us, but there is no way I'm leaving him there for that… _priest_… to do with as he will.  We're rescuing him, no matter what."

"Don't you think he _knows_ that, Bakura?" Marik put in. "We have to save him, of course.  He's an integral part of this whole thing, and we can't defeat Seth without him.  It's just… listen to yourself.  We need to think this through first, or everything will fall apart.  You know that Seth was right; people will cause chaos using the Duel Monsters if someone isn't here to control them."

"We're coming too," Yugi said immediately, and Malik nodded his agreement.  Yami turned to them, blinking.

"You shouldn't come.  The Shadow Realm puts too much of a stress on mortals, and we're going to be in there for a long time, and you haven't been in there before.  Who knows what could happen.  You should stay and make sure nothing happens here while we're gone."

Malik glared at him. "We.  Are.  Coming.  And nothing you say is going to change our minds.  Look, Ryou's our friend, and we want to help.  It'll be easier to find him if we all work together, and besides, hopefully the strain of the Shadow Realm won't affect us that much anyway, seeing as how we can use magic too."

Marik sighed. "They have a point, you know.  But if they come, then who'll take care of things here?"

"You can leave that to us," Tristan put in, and the three spirits and Yugi and Malik turned to see him and Joey, surprised.  Neither of the two had spoken since it had been figured out that Ryou had disappeared. "If people can figure out how to summon monsters on their own, I'm sure we can do it, too.  We'd help you guys, except we don't know any magic."

"Yeah," Joey added. "I don't get half of what you're talking about, but I'm sure we can at least take care of things here.  My Flame Swordsman and I can take care of that." The warrior next to him nodded solemnly, and Yami blinked, wondering when he had summoned the monster.

Quickly getting over the surprise, Yami said, "No, we have to leave someone else here.  I don't want you two getting involved.  You don't even know half the stuff about what's going on here, and I'd prefer to leave it to someone who knew what they were going up against."

Joey smirked slightly. "And you don't want me getting myself killed again, isn't that right?"

"How'd you-"

"Yugi told me," the blond interrupted. "Don't worry about it.  Things are different now anyway, aren't they?  I mean, if Yugi, Ryou, and Malik are your reincarnations, then there are technically two of you here in this time.  And if that's the case, then destiny can't repeat itself, because there's already something different now than with what happened in your time."

Yami hesitated. "I'm not sure…"

Tristan threw an arm around Joey's shoulders. "Hey, don't worry about it.  If anyone wants to kill my buddy, they'll have to get through me first."

Yami still looked uncertain. "Maybe…"

"We're wasting time," Bakura put in from where he had been standing impatiently. "Every second we stand here debating will probably have Ryou in more and more danger.  We'd better go soon if we want to have a chance of finding Seth."

Finally giving in, Yami sighed in defeat. "Fine.  Bakura, Marik, Malik, Yugi and I will go, and we'll leave it up to you two to take care of things here while we're gone." Joey and Tristan grinned in triumph and exchanged high-fives.

Yugi said, "There's another thing I want to ask you.  Can you tell Grandpa where I've gone?  He'll understand; I've already explained this whole situation to him."

Malik added, "Oh, and tell my sister, too, will ya?  Except… um…"

"She doesn't know anything about what we're doing here," Marik explained. "Isis suspects something, of course, but she doesn't know."

"…yeah," Malik mumbled. "Just tell her we're on a school field trip or something, make something up.  Hopefully she'll understand and won't complain… and I won't ask you to look out for her or anything if any monsters attack.  She can take care of herself."

"She was _only_ the most powerful priestess and diviner in all of ancient Egypt," Bakura said, smirking, before he turned serious. "Let's go now." The other four nodded, and turned to face the place where Seth had appeared, where the tomb robber began summoning the energy needed to enter the Shadow Realm.

As the portal opened, showing nothing but a dark swirl of purple and black, Marik, Yami, Bakura, Yugi, and Malik walked up to it, the latter two showing signs of fear but trying to hide it.  Before they entered, Yami turned back to the two spectators and said, "Joey, you'd better be alive when we get back, or I'll never forgive you."

The blond gave him a mock-salute and a huge grin. "On my word, Pharaoh, I promise you I'll be alive when you guys get back.  I give you permission to kill me otherwise." Yami allowed himself a small smile as he stepped into the portal, the image of his friend from this time giving way in his mind to a picture of a nearly identical teenager, also saluting as he smiled at his best friend, the hot sands of Egypt behind him.

As the group disappeared and the entrance into blackness shrank and vanished, Joey's grin faded and he turned to Tristan. "It's like they were never here, isn't it?"

The brunette nodded. "Yeah… except for the crater where the field used to be.  I guess it's up to us, now."

Joey gazed at the Flame Swordsman next to him, looking thoughtful. "I guess so.  Kinda makes me wonder how we get into these things." He pulled out his deck, returning the swordsman to its card before pocketing it.

The shrill sound of sirens cut through the air and the two boys winced, almost having forgotten that there were other people in the world than them and the five that had just left.  As the police scrambled out of their cars and surrounded the school, Joey muttered to Tristan, "I guess this is our first job, huh?  Explaining this to the media."

Tristan sweatdropped and nodded. "Yeah… wish us luck."

"We'll need it."  
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Yugi's first impression of the Shadow Realm was that it was cold, colder than it ever got in Japan.  His second was of the deep blackness that surrounded them, and the third was more in his mind than anything else.  The spirits had been right; just being here was draining.  Not that he'd ever complain about it, of course, now that he and Malik had actually convinced the three to bring them along.

A small dark blue light appeared, and Yugi looked to see Bakura, whose face was eerily shrouded in shadow by the small ball of magic in his hand.  Kind of a reflection on how dark the place was, if that kind of light actually made it easier to see.  One by one, three other lights came on, a gold one that showed him Yami, a magenta one that lit up Malik, and a bronze one that brought Marik into view.  Soon after, Yugi called his own ball of lavender light into existence, lighting up maybe a ten-foot radius around the group.  Glancing at the ground, Yugi shuddered slightly as he noticed the gravel-like texture of it, as well as the old bones and small scraps of cloth that littered it.

Bakura grinned nastily, the shadows cast by his magic causing him to look more than slightly evil. "Back here again," he remarked, seeming to be perfectly at ease in the Shadow Realm. "Been a while since I was last here.  Feels just like it always did, doesn't it, Marik?"

The other spirit nodded, grinning. "Just as cold and unwelcoming as ever.  You enjoy it, don't you, Bakura?"

The tomb robber smirked. "Of course.  It feels more like home here than Egypt ever did.  What do you think, Pharaoh?"

Yami rolled his eyes. "I think you two have spent way too much time in the Shadow Realm.  I also think we came here for a reason, and that wasn't to comment on how little this place has changed in the past five thousand years.  Remember Ryou?"

"Yes, I remember," Bakura grumbled. "Hold on.  I'll summon a locator spell."  The magic in his hands shifted shape slightly, becoming more of a cylinder with a little triangle pointing in a certain direction.  He pushed the triangle so the compass spun, and as it did so, he looked to Yugi and Malik.

"I don't suppose either of you have anything of Ryou's?  A borrowed pencil, maybe?" The two shook their heads, and the thief sighed. "Oh well.  I guess it was too much to hope for.  Guess I'll have to focus in on his magic instead, and that's a lot harder.  In case you hadn't noticed, the Shadow Realm has something of a muting effect on magic."

Malik had noticed; the circle of light had grown slightly smaller, along with the ball of magic in his hand.  Straining slightly against the draining effects of the Shadow Realm, he summoned up more of his magic and forced it into his hands, leaving him a bit more tired than before.  Yugi had done the same, and the Egyptian noted in some far corner of his mind that the smaller boy was sweating slightly.  Now that he thought about it, Malik realized that he was breathing a bit harder than usual, too.  Not a good sign.

Apparently, Marik had noticed the way the two humans were reacting, and he sighed. "Hey, we tried to warn you about the Shadow Realm, but you two didn't listen…"

Yugi tried to glare at him, but failed miserably. "Isn't there anything we can to do stop this?"

Yami shrugged. "We could construct a sort of shield, except that takes time and energy, neither of which we have a lot of at the moment." He gestured at Bakura, who was staring intently at the compass in his hands and muttering a few words in Egyptian every now and then.  Yugi and Malik watched in fascination as he summoned more magic, this one more of a bluish-white color.  He forced it down his arm and into the palm of his hand, where he picked it up in his fingertips and held it over the compass.  It formed a small dip in the center, in exactly the shape of a hemisphere, and Bakura pressed the lighter magic into the recess.  It fit snugly into the hole, and in a few seconds, the compass had stopped turning and pointed off in a direction left and slightly forward of where they were standing.  The tomb robber saw the two teenagers staring at him and shrugged.

"Ryou and I exchanged a bit of magic yesterday," he explained. "It's kind of useful, because it gives you a link to the other person's well of magic if you ever need any, and you can use it for these kinds of things.  It's a lot easier than wandering around the whole realm calling for him, which might be a bit of a bother.  There's a lot more than just humans and human spirits in the Shadow Realm." Yugi shifted nervously, glancing down at the ground beneath his feet.  Bakura saw this and grinned. "Noticed the bones, have you?  Not too many Duel Monsters eat human flesh, but if you meet one of them…" He drew his hand across his neck in a quick slashing motion, and the shorter boy shuddered, trying not to imagine what exactly would happen.

"Bakura," Yami said sharply, "as much as I know you enjoy scaring people out of their wits, now is not exactly the best time.  We're supposed to be looking for Ryou, remember?" The tomb robber nodded and set off in the direction in which the compass pointed out.  The others trailed behind in silence, each thinking their own thoughts and pondering what lay ahead.  
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It was some time later when Bakura finally spoke. "I suggest you stay on guard," he said to the others. "The wild monsters tend to be pretty weak, but Seth probably knows we're here and he'll be expecting us.  Stay on guard; I'm sure we'll be meeting the priest's welcoming committee soon enough."

Yugi glanced around uneasily. "You said there were wild monsters in the Shadow Realm," he stated.

Yami nodded. "Yes, this is where all the monsters come from, whether they're summoned or just appear for no apparent reason."

Yugi looked even more uncomfortable. "So are all of the wild monsters evil?"

"What do you think?" Bakura asked dryly. "We haven't been attacked yet."

Yami shot him a glare. "Not all of them, just mostly the dark types and fiends.  The others either stay away from each other or don't care, except for the light types and fairies.  Sometimes they'll help other monsters, or any people that they see."

"So then the monsters that appeared probably weren't wild?" Malik asked. "I mean, since they started attacking everything…"

Marik thought about that for a moment. "No, probably not," he said. "They were probably working with Seth.  At least two of them were Seth's own monsters, though.  The Vorse Raider I know he has, and the Blue-Eyes could only belong to him or Yugi, and since Yugi summoned his own during that fight…"

"Then Seth's been gathering his own private army," Malik muttered. "Figures.  While all we have are the monsters in our decks."

"There are more of us, though," Yami pointed out. "Whether there are enough, we'll soon find out."

Bakura was about to reply when he suddenly stopped, staring into the darkness ahead.  The other four sensed it too; there were monsters dead ahead, blocking their path.

"Do you think they're with Seth?" Yugi questioned quietly, so that the monsters couldn't hear.

"They're in our way and they're not moving.  What do you think?" Malik retorted.

"There's only one way to find out," Yami muttered, "and we're not getting anywhere just by standing here."

The others nodded, and they advanced slowly, dimming the light of their magic so they wouldn't be as easy to spot, though it was probably too late for that now.  Bakura, Yami, and Marik reached for their decks with their free hands, while Yugi and Malik added more energy into the balls of magic that they already held.  There was no sense in being caught unprepared.

The monsters soon appeared in their field of vision: maybe five smaller monsters with attack under 1000, being watched by a Gyakutenno Megami.  The five boys relaxed, and the weaker monsters fled as soon as they saw the group.  The larger fairy regarded them solemnly for a moment before turning and following the others, gliding calmly behind them.

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief. "So they weren't with Seth after all.  What do you have to say to that, Malik?"

Malik mumbled something in Arabic under his breath before replying, "They could've been.  And I don't think we'll be so lucky this time around."

"What?" Yugi started to ask, but then stopped as he too felt the presence of more monsters that had been hiding behind the small group.  He gulped as they stepped into the light: three monsters were standing there, and they did not look happy.

"Doma the Angel of Silence, Amphibian Beast, and King of Yamimakai," Bakura muttered. "Levels five and six.  Who wants to take care of them?"

"I will," Yugi volunteered.

"Okay, fine," Marik said, then grinned. "Oh… one way in which the Shadow Realm differs from the real world…"

Yugi glanced at him. "Yes?"

"This being where all the monsters come from, you can summon them directly just by holding out the card.  They all exist here, you see, so no sacrifices necessary," Marik explained.

A slow grin started spreading over Yugi's face. "Is that so?" he asked. "I'll keep that in mind.  In that case…" He pulled out a card from his deck, and trusting that it was the card he wanted, he yelled, "I summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

The dragon appeared in all its glory, the darkness turning its scales more of a purple shade than bluish-white.  It roared its challenge to the three opposing monsters, glaring at them.

"You ready?" Yugi asked the Blue-Eyes, and it roared again, powering up its attack in anticipation.

Realizing something, Yami yelled, "Yugi!  Wait!" But it was too late.

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!  White Lightning Attack!" Yugi pointed at the three monsters, and with one great blast, the dragon incinerated them all.  Yugi did a quick victory pose, but it was short-lived as black chains flew out of nowhere and bound the Blue-Eyes, trapping it.  Yami groaned.

"That's what I was going to warn you about!" he yelled. "Here, traps and quick-play magic cards can be set and you can't see they're there until they're triggered!  That's a Shadow Spell!"

Yugi's eyes widened in shock. "WHAT?!?" He pulled out the card again and tried to return the Blue-Eyes to the card, but to no avail.  No matter how much the dragon struggled against the chains that bound it, it was stuck like that for a while.

Laughter started to fill the area, and the group looked up to see a large monster approaching.  Within seconds, it had become a Blue-Eyes, and a certain priest was standing on its head and laughing at them.

"Poor little Yugi, can't seem to free his little pet dragon," Seth cooed, chuckling at the look on Yami's face. "Too bad.  I guess I'll have to show you what happens when you're caught off guard in the Shadow Realm." He pointed at Yugi's Blue-Eyes and yelled, "Destroy him!"

With a loud screech, Seth's dragon did just that.  The resulting blast caused smoke to cloud the whole area, causing the group to cough, but it was quickly cleared away by a strong wind that came from Seth's Blue-Eyes flapping its wings.  Yugi looked up to see his Blue-Eyes gone.  All that was left were some dark chains on the ground, and they quickly faded and disappeared.

Seth grinned. "Well, that's it for that monster.  That'll teach you not to show off your secret weapon beforehand.  Oh, and by the way… I think your spirit friends forgot to mention that if a monster's destroyed in the Shadow Realm, it can never be used again."

Yugi realized that he was right, as the card he was still holding now felt somewhat cold and empty.  He stared down at his grandpa's prized dragon, the realization suddenly dawning on him that he had allowed it to be destroyed and, in a way, let his grandfather down. "No…" he whispered, before he glared up at Seth. "How could you?"

The priest smiled coldly at him. "I could because I already have three and have no use for a fourth," he replied. "Besides, little Yugi, by the time this war is over you will have lost much more than a simple Duel Monster." He then turned to Bakura, smirking slightly. "Tomb robber.  I seem to remember one of you claiming that nothing I did could bring you to the Shadow Realm, and yet here you are.  So tell me, what made you change your mind all of a sudden?"

Bakura growled at him. "Where's Ryou?"

"Ryou, Ryou… who exactly is Ryou again?" Seth pondered. "Oh yes, him.  He must be that one boy you're so fond of, probably because he's your reincarnation.  Oh, don't worry, he's still alive, if not doing so well.  My dungeons are a little harsh for such an innocent soul like his."

"Let him go, Seth!" Yami yelled. "He's done nothing to you."

"Oh, has he?  Well, he's on your side, Pharaoh, and that's enough for me," Seth said lazily. "Enough chatter.  You see those bones down there, beneath your feet?  Yours will soon be there, too.  Blue-Eyes!  White Lightning!"

Yami's reaction was almost immediate.  As soon as the attack was released and speeding towards them, he had whipped a card out of his deck and held it up. "Swords of Revealing Light!"

That halted the Blue-Eyes right in its tracks, and Seth along with it. "What in the name of Ra-" the former high priest started.

Malik stared up in fascination at the huge dragon, frozen in place along with its attack. "Just out of curiosity, exactly how long is three turns in the Shadow Realm?"

"Not nearly long enough," Bakura replied. "Let's go!"

"WHAT?  We're just going to run away?"

"Do you have any better ideas?" the tomb robber shot back, just as the Swords started flickering. "Let's at least get out of the way of the attack!"

The group ran to the side as fast as they could, just in time to avoid the White Lightning that impacted where they had been standing moments before.  Seth turned to them, grinning. "You managed to dodge that one, but this time you won't be so lucky.  I doubt any of you have any more cards to stop my attacks!"

As the Blue-Eyes' attack sped towards them, Yugi squeezed his eyes shut, expecting it to hit them at any second.  When it didn't come, he opened his eyes and gasped as three attacks hit the White Lightning, canceling each other out and causing a huge explosion.  Seth, his Blue-Eyes, Yugi, Malik, Yami, Bakura, and Marik were all thrown backwards by the blast.  Miraculously, they all survived.  Well, actually, that depended on your opinion: miraculously, Yami, Bakura, Marik, Yugi, and Malik were still in one piece.  Unfortunately, Seth and his Blue-Eyes were too.

Bakura glanced around, slightly surprised that he was still alive.  That in itself spoke loads, since Bakura had been through many life-or-death situations and had never lost his cool during any one of them.  Seriously, the King of Thieves had thought he was really done for this time, but it didn't take him long to regain his composure.  After assuring himself that fate wasn't in the mood to let him die that day, he became a little cockier.  Glancing around, he spotted Seth and his dragon, both of whom were looking slightly annoyed, more than a little dusty, and relatively unhurt.  After that, he let his eyes roam around a bit more, finally landing on their saviors.  And he couldn't have been more surprised.

From beside him, Yami gasped slightly, eyes widening as he spotted the source of the three attacks. "Duel Monsters?"

"And wild ones, too, by the look of it," Marik noted. "Not to mention only one of them is a light-type.  So why are they here?"

A Dark Magician Girl, a Gemini Elf, and a Seiyaryu stood at the origin of the three attacks, looking for all the world like they had been in the area and had just decided to help some unlucky passerby in fight they most probably wouldn't win.  Of course, the three monsters would have to be crazy to pick a fight against a Blue-Eyes.

"So… what now?" Yugi asked, eyes still trained on the Blue-Eyes before him.

Malik glanced around worriedly, searching for an escape route. "I suggest we run."

"Run?  Where to, you idiot?" Bakura yelled, trying to ignore the fact that both the priest and dragon were recovering from the shock of having someone challenge them.

"I don't know!  Just run!"

Seth smirked. "Yes, run, run little mortals.  Run off in a panic.  It'll just make you a little harder to catch if you run off in different directions, but then again, I'm sure my dragon would enjoy a little target practice." The Blue-Eyes roared agreement, already focusing its energy in its mouth for another attack.

Yugi yelped, seeing the White Lightning being aimed directly at him. "That's it, we're doomed!"

"Not quite!" a feminine voice answered him, and the three monsters shot their attacks at the Blue-Eyes' back, right where Seth was.  The priest cried out as he was thrown off, and the dragon stopped its attack, turning back to check on its master.  At this point, Bakura was howling with laughter, which was abruptly cut short as the Seiyaryu grabbed him and pulled him off the ground.  The Gemini Elf (Elves?  Whatever) headed for Malik and Marik, each elf taking one of them, and the Dark Magician Girl, the one who had spoken, grabbed Yugi and Yami and floated away quickly, the other monsters following.

Bakura managed to somehow climb onto Seiyaryu's back and glanced at the compass he held, eyes widening as he realized that they were actually heading _away_ from Ryou. "You idiots!  Turn around!"

One of the elf twins turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Are you suicidal or something?  Do you _want_ to get killed?"

Bakura considered that for a moment. "…good point.  But my reincarnation-"

"Save it for when we _aren't_ being attacked by a Blue-Eyes!" Seiyaryu interrupted in a stressed voice.  Bakura blinked and almost fell off, not having realized that the purple dragon could talk.

Yami had turned to watch what was happening behind them.  Seth stood up, brushing himself off, and immediately started yelling at his Blue-Eyes. "You call yourself a Duel Monster?!?  You're letting them get away!  Attack them, you fool!"

The Blue-Eyes let out as much of an "eep!" as a Blue-Eyes could make; then, having determined that his master was indeed all right (he had to be, if he could yell like that), he turned to the fleeing monsters and humans, powering up its attack.  The DMG turned and cursed.

"Why now?" she complained. "We're still too close for comfort!  Unless…"

"I get the High Priest!" Seiyaryu yelled quickly.  The magician nodded and aimed her attack at the Blue-Eyes, while the dragon let loose a Razor Flare Blast at Seth, who barely managed to get out of the way in time.  The Gemini Elf grumbled for a moment, and Malik was barely able to pick up the words "close-range attack" and "too far."

The Dark Magic Attack did little to stop the Blue-Eyes, only causing it to lose a little of the power stored in its White Lightning.  The monster shook its head and snorted a bit, only to be distracted by Seth, who was cursing at the fact that Seiyaryu had blasted away the end of his robes.  The dragon turned tauntingly. "Nyah nyah!"  If she had a tongue, it would be sticking out at the priest.

Seth looked up and glared at them, helpless to do much but watch while his enemies flew away.  The Dark Magician Girl, Gemini Elf, and Seiyaryu glared right back.  Seiyaryu loosed a quick attack at the Blue-Eyes and Seth before the three monsters sped up, leaving Seth's screams of rage behind them.  
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Ryou was sitting in one of the dungeon cells in Seth's Shadow Realm castle, the building of which had apparently been his occupation for the past five thousand years.  He was manacled to the wall, and was deep in thought, trying to come up with ways to escape.  None of the things he had tried had worked so far; he'd spent a whole hour trying to pick the lock with some of Bakura's tools, with no success.  It was either he was too inexperienced or Bakura's skills were overrated, or both.  Ryou suspected that it was a combination of the two.

Now he stood up and walked over to the wall, inspecting the place where the chains attached to it.  He noticed that the wall was looking a bit crumbly; not very well built, for a place that had taken a few thousand years to build.  Ryou kicked at it near where the chains were attached, gaining nothing but a sore foot in the process.  He reached for the iron and was rewarded with a bit of a shock.  Apparently, it was protected by magic, so he couldn't really pry it from the wall.  And you know what really sucked?  As soon as they arrived at the place, Seth had not only taken his deck away, but also sealed away all the magic he had in a little glass bottle, which was sitting just out of reach beyond the bars of his cell, just to torture him.  Now all the magic Ryou had left was the kind he used to summon monsters, which Seth had left to spite him.

In a bit of a fit, Ryou picked up a piece of the crumbling wall and threw it at the bottle.  It rocked slightly and almost fell over.  Growling, the white-haired boy picked up another rock and threw it as hard as he could.  This one hit the bottle square on.  Ryou held his breath as slowly, slowly the bottle wobbled, and then toppled over… only to hit the ground and roll around a bit, not breaking.  He let out a frustrated sigh, kicking at another random piece of the wall in his anger.  This one broke a bit, letting a large chunk of rock fall to the ground.  Ryou picked it up and hefted it experimentally.  He glanced at the bottle, then gave up on it, deciding that it would be a waste of time to try that any longer, and besides, Seth would most definitely notice when he returned.  Instead, he turned his attention back to the iron that held the chains to the wall.  He held the rock tightly, and praying it wouldn't break, he slammed it against the wall, right above where the chains connected to it.  He was rewarded with a bit of crumbling from the wall, some dust falling to the ground, while his battering-rock remained somewhat unscathed.  Grinning slightly, he continued at his work, pausing every once in a while to make sure Seth wasn't coming.  
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Seto and Zake were waiting for Seth in the Great Hall.  As soon as the irate priest stormed in, his somewhat sheepish and most definitely ashamed Blue-Eyes following, Kaiba stood from his seat at one of the tables and Zake straightened up from his place against the wall.  Kaiba raised an eyebrow at the look on Seth's face. "I take it your welcoming party didn't go too well?"

Seth didn't dignify that with an answer.  Instead, he swept over into the courtyard.  Seto and Zake shared a glance and shrugged, following him.  Luckily, neither of the others noticed the slight smile that had appeared on Kaiba's face, which disappeared quickly as they entered the open grounds, where the other two dragons were waiting.  They lifted their heads as soon as their master approached, their gaze sweeping the three humans and the other Blue-Eyes.  Seth immediately turned to the dragon following him, his gaze a frozen tundra.  The Blue-Eyes winced slightly in anticipation of the scolding that was to come, glancing over at his brothers for help.  The other two dragons glared at him silently, their looks saying, "Hey, this is your problem."

"You failed me," Seth stated calmly.  As his three monsters knew well, Seth's "calm" voice was his most dangerous.  And he didn't take kindly to failure. "You didn't go after the Pharaoh and his little friends or those monster rebels.  By Set, you didn't even notice them coming until those monsters attacked you!"

"I'm sorry, Master Seth," the dragon said in a very, very small voice, not something you'd expect from a creature of his size.  Blue-Eyes's didn't really talk much, preferring to roar or simply screech if they could get away with it, and the fact that he was speaking spoke loads more about his guilt than anything else.

"You'd better be," the priest snapped, still sounding angry. "I won't punish you this time, but I promise you, the next time it happens, you'll be wishing you'd never met me."

"Yes, Master Seth.  Thank you, Master Seth," his Blue-Eyes replied softly, not daring to look up. "I promise you, it won't happen again."

"It better not," Seth mumbled, turning away.  Seto decided that this was as good a time as ever to approach him, so he walked up behind the priest, clearing his throat to get his attention.

"What is it?" Seth asked without even bothering to turn around.  Sighing, Kaiba moved into his line of sight.

"I want to see my brother," the teenager said.  Seth regarded him for a long moment.

"Do you, now," he replied finally. "That's nice."

Kaiba growled softly, striding up to the priest and lifting him up slightly by the collar. "Show him to me, Seth.  I want to know that he's still alive before I go on working for you.  Show him to me now, before I decide to hurt you." To his left, Zake tensed slightly, hand going to his sword hilt.  The Blue-Eyes all glanced up, the beginnings of fury showing in their eyes.  A quick glance from Seth was all it took to make them relax, but the dragons' eyes still shone with a glint that spelled out murder.

Seth pretended to think it over for a moment, all the while aware that his reincarnation's fingers were itching to wrap around his throat. "I suppose it's not an unreasonable demand," he said finally. "I wouldn't want you to turn on me because you think I've killed your brother.  It's the only thing I have on you, after all.  A bit pathetic, really, you working with me only because I kidnapped a little brat like him." Seto's eyes narrowed at the insult to his brother and his grip tightened, but he said nothing.  Seeing this, Seth continued, "I suppose I could let you see him… except you have to let go of me first."

Kaiba growled and muttered something incoherently, then loosened his grasp and took a step back. "Alright, now lead me to Mokuba."

Seth smirked slightly. "Impatient, aren't we?  All in good time." He chose that moment to straighten his robes, watching Kaiba turn red with anger out of the corner of his eye.

"Seeettthhhh…"

"Okay, okay," the priest grumbled, wisely choosing to lead the way to the dungeons before a certain annoyed CEO decided to try and strangle him. "Let's go."

As they entered the dungeons, Kaiba could've sworn he heard a faint scratching noise coming from below them, but it quickly stopped as soon as they mounted the stairs – of course, that might just have been because the echoes of their footsteps covered up all other noises.

They finally reached the bottom of the long, spiral staircase, and Kaiba glanced to his right, where one of his former classmates was sitting, chained to the wall and glaring at them.  The white-haired teenager raised an eyebrow at the sight of him and Seth.

"I seem to remember you saying that the next time you came down here, you'd be lugging the dead bodies of my friends behind you," Ryou remarked. "Seems you didn't succeed."

Seth glared at him and didn't answer, and Ryou stifled a chuckle.  He'd never admit it, but it seemed like Bakura was rubbing off on him.

"Shut up, kid," the priest mumbled. "If you don't, I'll have you begging for your life soon enough."

Ryou plastered a false grin onto his face. "You can't kill me, you know.  Bakura would sense it and all your efforts to bring them into the Shadow Realm would've gone to waste.  They'd go back to the real world.  And besides, I'm too valuable a hostage for you to severely hurt, right?"

Seth growled at him and kicked the bottle containing Ryou's magic in a fit of bad temper.  It rolled away between two bars in another cell, empty except for a skeleton that was still manacled there, and rolled to a stop.  Ryou mentally sighed; there went his last chance of getting his magic back.

"Just remember, brat, keep acting like that and you won't be seeing your friends anytime soon," Seth snarled. "After I kill them, I'll keep you alive just to practice my torturing." A zillion smart comments started flashing through Ryou's head, but he wisely decided to ignore all of them and keep his mouth shut.  With a little luck, he'd be out of here soon enough, and it wouldn't do to provoke the priest any further.  Wouldn't it be nice if his friends did manage to defeat Seth and came to save him, only to find out that he had been killed?

After waiting a few seconds for Ryou's answer and receiving only silence, Seth shrugged and walked on.  Kaiba followed him, casting a quick glance at his former schoolmate as he passed.  Ryou twitched, thinking he'd just seen _the_ Seto Kaiba, Mr. Emotionless, High-and-Mighty, Master-Duelist, CEO-of-the-Biggest-Technological-Company-This-End-of-the-Universe give him a sympathetic look.  Then he stopped, thought over all the ways he'd just referred to Kaiba, shrugged, and decided that it was just his imagination.  After all, no one that was that cunning, cold, ruthless, and powerful could have the heart to feel sorry for him.

As for Kaiba, he was only concerned with the welfare of his brother.  They reached another staircase and went down, at which point Seth demanded that he be blindfolded for "security purposes" – translated as, he didn't want Kaiba to remember the way.  Not like he would've, anyway.  There were so many twists and turns in the route, and probably many other passages, that there was no way Kaiba could retrace his path.  More likely, he'd be lost forever.

Finally, after nearly falling down a staircase, Seth decided that Kaiba's blindfold could be removed.  The teenager did so, grumbling the whole time about "stupid paranoid priests."  He followed Seth down the passage, finally stopping what appeared to be a dead end.

"Where is he?" Kaiba growled. "I'm warning you, Seth, if he's not here…"

Seth shrugged. "You'll do what?  Sorry, my reincarnation, but there's no way _you'll _be able to beat _me_.  Unlike you, I have magic, and unlike you, I can use it." Kaiba scowled and muttered something incoherently.  Seth continued, "Just wait here for a moment, Seto." He walked up to the wall and said something that Kaiba couldn't catch, and the wall moved aside to reveal a row of bars, and beyond that, one last cell.

"Mokuba!" Kaiba yelled, rushing straight to the front of the cell.  Like Ryou, Mokuba's arms were chained to the wall, but his legs were also chained, allowing no chance of escape.  He was sitting against the wall, head down.

Mokuba looked up at the sound of Kaiba's voice, and his eyes widened.  Standing up quickly, he yelled, "Big brother!  You came!  Please, get me out of here!"

Kaiba said nothing, glancing uncomfortably at Seth, who was smirking.  Mokuba noticed the priest too, and he scowled. "What's _he_ doing here?" When his brother said nothing, realization began to dawn on the boy's face. "Seto, don't tell me…"

"I'm sorry, Mokuba," Kaiba whispered.

Seth grinned. "A family reunion.  Oh, how touching.  And I'm here to witness it.  Well, Kaiba, now you know your brother's alive, so make it quick.  We have to get going."

"You're working with him?" Mokuba asked, his eyes started to fill with tears. "Seto, don't… it's not worth it!  Don't worry about me, just please don't help him!"

"You know, if you weren't locked up in a cage, I'd slap you for your insolence," Seth noted.

Kaiba's eyes were soft as he looked at his brother. "I'm sorry, Mokuba, I can't.  I'll get you out of here soon, I promise.  But for now…" he glared hatefully at the priest.

Seth stood, tapping his foot and watching the scene indifferently. "If you two are done, can we get going?  I have a world to conquer, you know."

Kaiba shot him a look before turning back to his brother. "I'll be back soon," he said softly. "Don't worry.  You'll be fine." Without stopping to say goodbye, he turned and walked off, followed by Seth, who was pulling out the blindfold again.

"Big brother…" Mokuba whispered, a single tear making its way down his cheek. "Don't do it… please…" He knew for a fact that Kaiba could no longer hear him, but he wished that his older brother would forget about his welfare just for once.  
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"Where are we going?" Yugi asked curiously of the Dark Magician Girl who was holding both him and Yugi by the hand.  She shrugged, not answering, and Yugi was left to wonder what exactly was going on.

The Gemini Elf glanced up at him and grinned. "Don't worry, we're almost there.  We'll explain when we get there."

"And where exactly is _there_?" Bakura asked, just as a tingly feeling went up his spine, signaling that they had just passed through a magical barrier.  A light shone up ahead, and the three Duel Monsters headed straight for it. "…never mind."

Soon, they were in the middle of a small clearing, lit up by some unknown light source far above them.  The ground was covered in grass, with a few flowers and bushes scattered around the meadow.  Surprisingly enough, there weren't any bones in sight, but then again, this isn't exactly a place where you'd expect to find a skeleton of any kind.  Gemini Elf stopped running in the middle, and Dark Magician Girl and Seiyaryu floated down to join them.  Bakura hopped off Seiyaryu's back and glanced around. "So the barrier was to keep anyone from finding this place?"

"And to disguise the light, yes," Dark Magician Girl answered. "We don't exactly want anyone to wonder, and then to just suddenly come against the barrier…"

"So it's to keep monsters and people from both seeing and finding this place," Marik said.  The monsters nodded.

"Let's just say there aren't too many lights like this in a supposed realm of darkness… and we don't want Seth to find us, do we?" Gemini Elf asked.

"Us?" Malik questioned. "You mean there are more of you?"

In answer, monsters appeared into the clearing from out of the darkness beyond.  Yugi gasped as he recognized the Gyakutenno Megami from before, along with the weaker monsters. "You!  You're the one…"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah.  We were the ones who told those three what you were walking into."

"Yeah… well, thanks," Bakura muttered. "Now will someone please explain what exactly is going on?"

Seiyaryu sighed. "Well, aren't you impatient?" Five glares were shot in her direction, and she sighed. "Fine, fine.  Well, it all started maybe fifteen years ago…"  
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So next is the explanation of what exactly happened… Well, the hint for the "mystery card" in this chapter is at the top, so there ya go.  If you want your favorite card (monster, magic, or trap) to be part of one of the armies, either Seth's or the rebel monsters', then tell me what it is and whose side it's on.  Just try to make sure it's something living, or at least something that I can write as being part of the whole thing without it being too strange.  It would be weird to have Spellbinding Circles walking around.

As usual, REVIEW!  At the request of hobbit13, reviewers get cookies this time around, and just to make it more sugary, they're chocolate chip.  Flames will be used to burn all of Seth's remaining robes, so he can't replace the ones that had the end blasted off.


	8. The Rebels

Otay!  Here's chapter seven!  *hands out cookies to hobbit13, Hikage Kitsune, and Kelsey* And we have a winner for the mystery card! *waves little flag around* Kelsey got it, it's Necross Exodia, or Exodia Necross, or whatever you call it… so she gets… um… hey Kelsey, I just realized I don't know your favorite character. ^^; So instead, you get a little sugar statue of all the characters and you can melt them and shape a big one of your favorite if you want.  Along with chibi plushies of all the characters.

Disclaimer: All I own is myself and a large pile of sweets… ooh, sweets… *drool*

Egyptian Shadow Destinies – Chapter Seven

The Rebels

"So… I guess we can start by saying that we're what Seth likes to call his little band of rebels," Seiyaryu continued. "Although that would be politically incorrect, since we never were for him in the first place.  I mean, come on, we never liked him, so we can't exactly rebel against him…"

"Anyway," Dark Magician Girl said, shooting a glance at Seiyaryu, "it started fifteen years ago.  Seth was starting to get restless again, probably because he knew the time was coming when the Realm would be unlocked again.  He hid it well, though, at least from you three, so that you wouldn't know what he was up to.  We're still not exactly sure, but we think it had to do with the birth of your reincarnations."

"Of course," Malik mumbled. "Yugi, Ryou, and I are all fifteen… and I think Kaiba just turned sixteen."

"Yes… so anyway, it was around that time that Seth started recruiting monsters for his own personal army.  Most of them were those used in the Shadow Games whose masters were of such unimportance that they weren't reincarnated into this age.  Naturally, they'd start getting restless, cooped up here for so long, so many of them were eager to cause a bit of destruction… and those who had a personal grudge against you, Yami, or those who were out for revenge wanted to come into the real world and cause a bit of havoc.  Those were the ones who joined up with Seth, along with those Dark- and Fiend-types who just like causing mass chaos." A Chaos Mage put in.

"And of course, you have those who would support us," a Wingweaver explained. "Those would be mostly Light- and Fairy-types, who would be most opposed to Seth's plan to conquer the world… him being evil and all.  Also, the smaller monsters, with attacks under 1000, also help us, because Seth thinks they're too weak to be of any use, so they have to look to us for protection.  They're useful when it comes to his Crush Card viruses."

"And what about those monsters that are, say, both Fairy- and Dark-types?" Yugi asked. "If the two conflict, then what happens?"

Gemini Elf shrugged. "It depends on what their dominant type is.  You have some like Doma, the Angel of Silence, who are on Seth's side, and then you have a few on our side.  Most of them prefer to stay neutral, but they know that they have to make a decision eventually.  But weren't we explaining how exactly we got into this situation?"

Seiyaryu blinked. "Yeah, huh… anyway, we'd known for a couple thousand years that Seth was building his little castle to keep us out, and to prepare for this occasion, but we didn't do much about it, other than occasionally blasting away a couple stones.  We couldn't do much at the time, because he was destined to come back…"

"What's up with all this destiny stuff?" Malik demanded. "You say it's fate, that it's preordained and all that stuff, so you think that no matter what you do, you can't change that?"

Yami nodded. "It was part of the spell that we used five thousand years ago: to seal away the Shadow Realm, we had to lock him away, and then face him again five thousand years later.  If we defeated him that time, then the Realm would never open again."

"So I'm guessing we're destined to beat him?" Malik asked.  When the monsters nodded agreement, he continued, "So why don't we just sit back and enjoy ourselves because we know we'll beat him when the time comes?"

Nearly everyone sweatdropped and fell over. "It doesn't work that way," Wingweaver muttered.

"Yeah?  It should!  So why not?"

Chaos Mage stared at him blankly. "The prophecy only says that you'll defeat him.  It mentions nothing about the consequences or what could happen before."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Yugi asked.

"Meaning your friend could die, you all could beat Seth but die in the process, Seth could cause the world to explode, killing everyone, including himself, you could beat Seth but have some greater power rise against you, etc., etc."

"That's not good…" Bakura murmured.  The humans and spirits nodded fervent agreement.

"So, if all that's destiny and is already determined, then why should we bother to do anything about it?" Malik asked. "If it's all going to come to the same destructive end anyway…"

"We didn't say that," Seiyaryu said. "There are different paths, different meanings to the word destiny.  If someone said it was destined to happen, then that would mean that at least one path would come to that end, but not all of them.  If someone was destined to be great, there are many ways: they could become a great artist, a king, a criminal mastermind, a scientist, or even a great slacker." Sweatdrops all around. "Okay, okay, maybe the last one's a little out there, but you get the point."

"So if there are different paths, different ways for things to turn out that are all 'fated to be,' doesn't that kind of defy the meaning of the word destiny?" Yami asked.

Dark Magician Girl shrugged. "You tell me.  It was you humans that came up with the word, not us.  Besides, you never know, the prophecy might also tell what's going to happen in a parallel universe, without bothering to mention to mention the fact that it won't happen in this one."

"So the whole point of the last few minutes was to say that we have no idea what's going to happen, it could be anything, the prophecies are screwed, and that Isis could've been wrong every single time she looked into the future?" Marik asked.  At the nods he received, he smirked. "That's a good one.  I'll remember that for the next time I see her."

"…anyway.  If you'll remember, the whole point of us coming to the Shadow Realm was NOT to philosophize with Duel Monsters, but to rescue Ryou," Bakura stated.

Seiyaryu blinked at him. "Please tell me how exactly you plan to do that."

"We don't.  That's the whole problem," Yugi said. "The whole thing was just a vague idea from the beginning that we'd just go to Seth's castle, somehow get in, somehow find Ryou, and somehow escape in one piece."

"That's a lot of somehows," Gemini Elf commented. "What you need is a plan."

"Isn't that what I just said?" Seiyaryu protested.  On the whole, the group ignored her.  She sighed. "Fine.  If you're going to get into the castle and cause a little mayhem, you have to take me with you."

"We can't.  You're too big," Chaos Mage pointed out. "The best chance we have is to not alert the whole place, which means we have to sneak in.  That means the five mortals – sorry, mortals and spirits – and a few humanoid monsters.  Three would be good: one to cover the front, the other the back, and the last to just hang around and help out when needed."

"You mean as a scout." Wingweaver said.  Chaos Mage nodded, and she continued, "Okay, first off, to get in, you need to get them to open the gates.  The only way to do that is to have someone come in or go out, and that might be a problem.  So, what we'll need first is a distraction.  Then, the eight that are going in will enter and go to the dungeons and try to find this Ryou person."

"One problem with that," Yami pointed out. "Does anyone know where exactly the dungeons are?"

Silence came over the group, until Gyakutenno Megami spoke up. "I was one of the ones who, ah, 'helped' Seth to build the castle-"

"In other words, she delayed it as much and as subtly as possible," Seiyaryu put in.

"-and I was able to sneak out a copy of the blueprints," the fairy continued, choosing to ignore Seiyaryu's comment. "I thought it might come in handy." She beckoned to a Kuriboh, who squeaked slightly and floated forward, handing Yami the blueprint.  He unrolled it and stared at it in confusion for a moment.

Bakura peered over his shoulder. "That's a really, really big castle," he commented, then started pointing to near the bottom of the map. "There's where the dungeons are – underground, of course.  Classic.  Just in case the place ever floods, so the prisoners are the first to go-"

"Get on with it," Yami growled, causing Bakura to smirk slightly.

"Okay, okay.  Well, this is the first dungeon level – basement level three.  It goes down about five floors, and apparently, it's a huge maze.  Ryou could be anywhere in those five floors."

"What's that right there?" Malik asked, pointing to a dotted line in the eighth basement level, the last dungeon floor.  It seemed to cut off a little square from the rest of the place.  Bakura peered at it for a second.

"Well, my guess is that it's a super-secret, heavily-guarded cell.  Probably hard to notice unless you know it's there."

"Do you think that's where they're keeping Ryou?" Yugi asked.  The tomb robber paused, then shook his head.

"Probably not.  I'd say that's probably where they're keeping Mokuba.  Seth is probably more worried about Kaiba finding his brother than us finding Ryou."

"So that means we'll have to search all five floors to find him?" Marik asked. "This'll take a long, long time…"

Bakura shrugged, grinning. "You forgot my little compass," he said, pulling it out of his pocket where he had stored it for safekeeping. "We can find Ryou in no time, except we'll have to trace our path on the map."

Chaos Mage shook her head. "Unfortunately, that won't work.  My guess is that Seth has probably locked your friend's magic up, so as soon as you enter the castle, that compass won't work.  You'll have to search each cell separately."

"Oh." A pause. "Marik's right.  This'll take a long, long time…"

"Well, that's why you should be glad there's going to be eight of you," Gemini Elf said brightly. "You can split into four pairs of two and search the dungeons that way.  One pair per floor, and then all of you can meet up again and then search the last floor, if you haven't found him by then."

Yami nodded. "Great.  That'll work.  So we need to work out the details and who exactly is going to be doing what…" He sweatdropped as he noticed Seiyaryu poring over the map. "What're you doing?"

She pointed one clawed wing to the top of the blueprint. "This is where Seth's rooms are, along with the rooms of his top officials.  If you want to go and trash them, you'll have to go up at least twenty floors.  And the last time I checked, there's no elevator on this floor plan." An evil grin slowly formed. "That is, unless you want that to be part of the distraction?"

An identical grin appeared on Bakura's face. "I think you have an idea there."

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A police officer stood, staring at Joey and Tristan with one eyebrow raised.  The huge crater where the school soccer field was had been roped off with yellow tape. "So you're saying that a Blue-Eyes White Dragon did this?" he asked skeptically.  The two boys nodded vigorously, and the officer sighed. "I think you kids have been playing too many video games."

"Wha-" Joey protested, annoyed. "I'm telling ya, a dragon did this!  It was really here!"

"Right," the officer muttered, scribbling something on his yellow notepad and beckoning one of his subordinates under.  He whispered something in her ear, and she nodded and scrambled off. "So tell me, if this dragon was really here, then where did it go?"

"That's easy.  It was destroyed by another Blue-Eyes."

"Oh?  And where did that Blue-Eyes go?"

"Yugi recalled it to its card," Joey said.

"And who is this Yugi?" The officer questioned.

"A friend of ours.  He goes here." Tristan told him, waving his hand in the vague direction of the school.

The officer sighed and tucked the yellow notepad away. "So you're saying that your friend Yugi has a Blue-Eyes." The two boys nodded, thinking that they were finally getting somewhere. "And you think that he has a Blue-Eyes?" Again, they nodded. "I hope you two know that I'm not stupid."

"Coulda fooled me," Joey muttered under his breath.  Luckily, the officer didn't catch it.

"I know for a fact that there are exactly three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in existence, and they all belong to Mr. Seto Kaiba.  Who, I might add, has gone missing since the incident here.  Do you two happen to know where he went?"

Joey and Tristan exchanged nervous glances. "Um… no?"

The officer sighed. "I know you two know something.  Where is he?"

Joey decided that, if they were going to confuse the officer, they might as well go all the way. "In the Shadow Realm.  Where the monsters live."

"Ah," the police muttered, trying to think up a good excuse to get away from these two nutcases. "And why do you think your friend Yugi has a Blue-Eyes?"

"Because he does," Tristan answered promptly. "We saw it.  There are actually four Blue-Eyes in the world, did you know that?"

"Riight… I think you kids spend too much time daydreaming." A white van pulling up into the school parking lot caught the man's attention, and he turned towards it. "I'm done with you two now.  You can go over and meet them." He waved a hand in the direction of the van, where three people were coming out, two of whom were carrying straitjackets.

"What!" Joey yelped. "We're not crazy, and I can prove it to you!" He pulled out his deck and grabbed a card. "Flame Swordsman, go!" The Swordsman appeared, swinging its sword and ready for battle.  The appearance of the monsters stopped everyone dead in their tracks, and Joey grinned. "See?  Told ya."

The officer blinked. O_o "…"

Joey stared at him. "Hey, are you listening to me?"

O_o "…"

"HEY!!  Earth to officer whatever-your-name-is!  Come in, officer whatever-your-name-is!" Joey turned to his Flame Swordsman. "Can you get this guy to listen to me?"

The Swordsman nodded. "As you wish." He walked up to the man and waved his sword in front of his face.  The officer stared at him for a moment, then collapsed in a dead faint.

Joey and Tristan blinked a couple times. "Okay…" A scream and an inhuman screech caught their attention, and they turned towards the noise, grinning as they recognized an Insect Queen rearing up about a mile away.  Joey recalled his Swordsman to his card and he and Tristan ran off in that direction.

"Hope you believe us now, because you're going to be seeing a lot more of these monsters before this mess is over!" Tristan called over his shoulder.  The men and women left behind stared after them, blinking a bit.  One of them glanced down at the straitjacket in his hands, seriously considering putting it on himself.  Then he glanced around him, shrugged, and decided it to put it on the unconscious officer instead.

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Ryou cursed uncharacteristically as the rock he was holding cut into his thumb, leaving a small trickle of blood on his finger.  He stuck it into his mouth for a second, then, hearing footsteps coming towards him, hid the rock behind his back and took his finger out of his mouth.

The footsteps belonged to Seth and Kaiba, coming back from their visit with Mokuba.  The priest looked to be in a slightly better mood, so Ryou asked, "So how did you like your little trip to the lower dungeons?"

Seth spared him barely a glance. "Why would you want to know?"

Ryou smiled innocently at him. "Well, I didn't hear any screams or pleas for mercy echoing up to here, so I'm guessing you weren't practicing your torture techniques.  What were you doing down there if you weren't hurting someone for your own sadistic pleasure?"

Seth snorted and walked away, not even bothering to give Ryou an answer.  The British teenager grumbled for a moment before turning to Kaiba. "I don't suppose you'd be nice enough to smash that little bottle over there?" he asked, indicating the one that had rolled into the cell opposite him.  Kaiba glanced at him, then at the bottle, and slammed the cell door shut.  It locked, leaving the bottle stuck there, where Ryou had no hope of getting to it.  He followed Seth out of the dungeons.

"So much for that," Ryou muttered to himself, then went back to his work.  A few minutes later, he was able to lever the plate out of the wall, and it fell to the ground with a loud clanking.  Ryou winced, waiting to see if anyone came down to check out the noise.  When no one appeared, he went to the task of trying to free his hands from the manacles.  Luckily, the magic had dissipated as soon as the chains came loose, so he was able to break the chains away from the plate directly.  He still had them hanging from his arms, but Ryou supposed that was a good thing.  It was some sort of weapon, at least.  Now to getting out of the cell itself…

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Kaiba followed Seth up to his private rooms, where they were shortly joined by Zake.  The former high priest created a little "window" from which they could see the real world, where Seth had summoned various monsters to cause a bit of chaos in the absence of the Pharaoh and his friends.  The Insect Queen was wreaking havoc in downtown Domino, and a Gadget Soldier was smashing up the hillsides north of the city.  The priest smiled in satisfaction.

"That should keep them busy, at least for a while.  Then in that time, the rest of my followers will emerge out of hiding.  After that, the monsters will be seen worldwide… and they will take over the Earth, leaving it to me."

"That's all good and well and perfect and all, but just make sure they don't tear down Kaiba Corp." Kaiba said sarcastically.  Seth glanced at him, a Cheshire grin starting to appear on his face.

"They don't have to, Seto.  That's the only building in Domino that will be spared.  And then the poor homeless public will blame the whole thing on you, because everyone knows that Kaiba Corp.'s the manufacturer of the holograms," he stated.

Kaiba's eyes narrowed slightly. "So you're planning on making me the scapegoat in this whole mess."

"In a way, yes," the priest purred. "After all, you _are_ helping me, aren't you?  And I'm the one doing this, which means you also carry some of the blame.  And besides, the public won't believe you if you claim that you never wanted the monsters to destroy the city.  After all, you're one of the villains in this situation, and no one ever believes the villains."

Kaiba growled softly, but said nothing.  What could he do if his brother's life was on the line?  Nothing, absolutely nothing, and Seth knew it.  Smirking, the priest turned away.

"What about the Pharaoh?" Zake questioned quietly. "He and his 'friends' are still here in the Shadow Realm, and by now they've met up with the rebels."

Seth chuckled softly. "Once again, you underestimate my genius." The other two glanced at him questioningly, and he shrugged. "If you've forgotten, I hold all the cards.  I have the monsters attacking their beloved Domino City as we speak.  Their little friend is my captive, and knowing that Pharaoh, he won't leave until he manages to get the brat back.  No, there's no threat on that front.  They may have met, and they may have made an alliance, but sooner or later, they're going to have to come to this castle, and when that happens, we'll be ready for them."

"And what if they actually manage to get Ryou back?" Kaiba asked, testing to see if Seth could fill in the obvious hole in his plan.

"Oh, don't worry, they won't," Seth answered, choosing to ignore the fact that the teenager had used their prisoner's name. "And besides, even if they do… when they get back to the real world, I'm afraid that they might have a few unpleasant surprises waiting for them…"

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The Insect Queen was much, much bigger up close.  Tristan supposed he might have expected it, seeing as how large the Blue-Eyes was, but this was still way too big for his liking.  And in the world of Duel Monsters, bigger usually meant better.  That was the case here, seeing how the monster they were facing was level seven and had 2200 attack.  And then, of course, you had to count the fact that it was powered up by the number of insects on the field, and it laid an insect egg every time it destroyed something, thus boosting its attack… all in all, not a good thing.

As they watched, the Queen blasted another building to smithereens, sending rats scurrying out in all directions.  As if by accident, she stepped on one, immediately laying another egg as soon as it was gone.  Joey sighed in frustration, growling as he watched the Queen grow even bigger as her attack skyrocketed, making it a total of 4200.  Luckily, all the people that had been there had run away – and judging by the uneaten food on the restaurant tables, they had left in a hurry.

Another building, another few rats, a couple thousand more attack points… Joey groaned, turning to Tristan in despair. "How the heck are we supposed to be able to do this if that Insect Queen has that many attack points and just gets more with every blast?"

Tristan simply grinned. "Watch and learn, my friend." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his deck, shuffling through it calmly and apparently unaware of the gigantic insect before him, growing bigger every minute. "Hm… here it is," he said, pulling a card out just as the Insect Queen noticed them.  It advanced on the pair, mandibles clicking audibly as it came closer to them.

"Well, whatever your secret weapon is, you'd better hurry up and use it before that Queen devours us!" Joey yelped, backing away as quickly as he could.

"Alrighty then… watch and learn!" Tristan held up the card in traditional duelist style, yelling its name as the effect activated. "Reverse Trap!"

Joey blinked, slightly clueless as to what exactly the trap did. "And its effect is what exactly?"

He was answered by the Queen's screech as the little creature from the card came to life, its puppet-like hands reaching forward and grasping the queen by the two clicking teeth.  As the insect's scream tore at their ears, it started growing visibly smaller… and smaller… and smaller…

"How do you like that?" Tristan yelled, the wild grin on his face not having disappeared anytime within the last few minutes. "Reverse Trap's effect: it takes all the attack points a monster's gained and subtracts them from the original attack of the monster!" He paused, thinking that over for a minute. "And vice versa, too, but that's not really important at the moment."

What could be considered of importance was the size of the Insect Queen.  It had been shrinking while Tristan talked (and shrieking the whole time, I might add), and right now, it was only about the size of one of Kaiba's holograms, as opposed to bigger-than-a-skyscraper.  It screamed again, loosing a considerably smaller blast in the direction of the two boys, who dodged it with barely a thought.  Instead, the attack whizzed past them, to crash right into the side of a Mercedes-Benz and causing it to explode.  Joey and Tristan winced.

"Ouch… and that looked new, too.  What a shame," Tristan muttered.

Joey laughed. "If it's that new, what do you want to bet the owner doesn't have insurance?"

Tristan sweatdropped. "Let's just say that I don't want to bet." He stared down at the Insect Queen, which was now no bigger than an ordinary housefly.  In fact, they wouldn't have noticed her at all, except for the fact that she was buzzing angrily around his feet.  He stared at the Queen for a moment, deep in thought. "Hey Joey, want to do the honors?"

The blond shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He walked up to the Insect Queen and stomped.  The monster fell to the floor, buzzing weakly for a few seconds before she disappeared.  Joey grinned, crossing his arms. "Well, that wasn't too hard." His smile faded as he felt a surge of magic come from farther north, and another monster reared up, so far away that he could barely see it. "Don't tell me…"

"Yeah," Tristan sighed, annoyed. "Another one.  C'mon, let's go."

"But we'll never make it in time!" Joey complained, glancing around.  His eyes lit up as soon as he saw one of the cars that had been abandoned on the side of the road. "Unless…"

Tristan smirked. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I guess so," Joey remarked, sprinting towards it. "If so, then I'm driving!"

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Grandpa Muto stared out the door of the Game Shop dismally, watching the chaos occurring outside and wondering where Yugi was.  This was one of the things his grandson was supposed to prevent, wasn't it?  So where had he gone?

Turning to the news that was playing on TV, he noticed in a far corner of his mind that there were currently two monsters attacking the city, one downtown and the other further north, and that, if eyewitness accounts were to be believed, a Blue-Eyes White Dragon or two had been seen battling at the school, and had left the soccer field as a crater.  Wait… at the school?

Grandpa snapped to attention as he heard that, staring avidly at the screen as one hysterical witness described what had happened to the reporters.  She claimed that one dragon had just appeared, and they had run away… and then another had come out of nowhere, and the two fought… one of the dragons won and destroyed the other one shortly afterward before it too disappeared.

"Yugi," Solomon whispered quietly. "So that's what he's been up to!" He had no doubt that the winning dragon was the Blue-Eyes he had given Yugi.  Why else would it disappear after it had destroyed the other Blue-Eyes?  It's not like it went on a rampage or something afterwards… the TV switched to coverage of the Insect Queen's attack, but now there was nothing to show, except for a couple destroyed buildings and cars.  As the newspeople were left to wonder what exactly had happened, Grandpa smiled inwardly, sure that Yugi and his friends had had something to do with it.

Getting a sudden idea, he reached for the phone and dialed a number.  After a few beeps, he was rewarded with a, "I'm sorry, but this number does not exist.  Please hang up and try again."

He frowned.  There was no way that Yugi's cell number shouldn't work unless it had been destroyed… and if it was destroyed, than Yugi had probably been too.  But no casualties had been reported on the news, so what was going on?  Making a quick decision, he ransacked the house for his grandson's address book and flipped through the pages until he came to the last entry. _Malik Ishtar_.  He traced a line from the name to the phone number and dialed it, hoping at least to get Malik's sister.  It was common knowledge that Ryou lived alone, so it was no use calling his number while the monsters were roaming around.

The phone rang a couple times before someone picked it up. "Hello?" an anxious-sounding female voice asked on the other end.

"Um, yes.  Are you Isis Ishtar?" Grandpa asked.

"Yes.  What's this about?" Isis asked, now sounding more worried than before.

"Well, my grandson Yugi's a friend of your brother, and I was wondering if you've seen either of them since the monster attacks started…"

"No, I haven't," Isis answered, sighing. "They're not here.  I already called Ryou Bakura's house, too, but no one picked up.  I was just about to call you."

"That's not good," Grandpa muttered, glancing out the window to where he could just barely see the Gadget Soldier wreaking havoc uptown.  He sighed, watching as the military helicopters tried to bring it down, only to get swatted aside by flies.

"No, it's not," Isis said softly. "I'm going out to look for them."

"With all these monsters running around?  No way!"

"Yes way," Isis answered, determined. "I'm going.  Goodbye." She hung up the phone.

Grandpa slowly placed the phone back in its receiver.  It wouldn't be a bad idea to look for them, but with all those monsters… he made his decision.  If Isis was willing to go out there in search of her brother, he would do the same for Yugi.

He slipped outside, putting his deck into his pocket.  Knowing Yugi and his friends, they were probably near where the Gadget Soldier was.  Of course, there was no way he could tell that to Isis.  He doubted that Malik had told her about the monsters.

Walking through the streets, he glanced up to see that the Gadget Soldier was still there and unopposed.  He sighed; where were they?  Deciding that he should take a shortcut to get there, hopefully to find Yugi and his friends, he cut into a dark alleyway that led in the general direction of the monster.

Grandpa blinked as he noticed flashes of light inside the alley.  Wondering what was going on, he quickened his pace slightly, his hand going to his pocket.  Soon enough, he came to a gang of about ten people, all standing in a circle in the middle of the alley and surrounding a Koumori Dragon.  One of them, obviously the leader, drew out a Duel Monsters card. "Pumpking, the King of Ghosts!" The monster appeared in another flash of light, as the dragon that had been sacrificed to summon it screamed and burst into a thousand pieces.

The gang leader chuckled. "I can't believe no one ever figured out this could happen before," he said, seemingly delighted. "Now let's go.  We have a city to destroy, innocent people to terrorize, gangs to get revenge on…"

Grandpa hesitated for a moment before he stepped forward. "I won't let you do it."

The whole gang turned on him, obviously surprised to see someone else there. "What did you say?" one of them demanded.

"I said I won't let you hurt anyone in the city," Solomon repeated, his voice stronger now.

"And what are you going to do about it, old man?" the leader sneered.

In response, Grandpa whipped out his deck. "Zombyra the Dark!" The monster appeared, roaring, and its master pointed to the Pumpking. "Destroy it!" His monster darted forward, and a second later, there was no sign that the Pumpking had ever been there.

The gang stood in shock and silence for a while, staring at the place where the monster had been, before their leader finally snapped out of it. "What did you do that for?!?"

Solomon just glared at him. "I won't let you hurt innocent people!"

One of the gang members hissed. "Oh, you're in for it now, Gramps…" As the gang all began to draw knives from out of nowhere, a single thought flashed through Solomon's mind.

_'WHAT have I gotten myself into?'_

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"Alright, so let's go over this one more time," Yami muttered. "Here's the plan:

"We'll start off with a distraction.  Seiyaryu, Wingweaver, that's your job, since you can fly and thus it's easier to get away." Both monsters nodded.

"So let's get this straight: we can attack whatever part of the castle we want, as long as it gets them out of there and opens the gate for you guys?" Seiyaryu asked.  Yami nodded, and she grinned. "Awesome.  I have just received express permission to trash Seth's rooms."

"…anyway.  After a while, they'll lure the army away, where those monsters with attack 1500 or more and that are somewhat fast will be waiting.  There'll be something of a skirmish there, to draw Seth's attention away from home and also to enable something of a quick getaway, when we leave." Yami continued.

Picking up where the Pharaoh had left off, Bakura said, "While the monsters are out and the gates are open, me, Yami, Yugi, Marik, and Malik will sneak in, accompanied by Gemini Elf, Dark Magician Girl, and Chaos Mage.  We'll keep the formation where Gemini Elf scouts ahead and takes care of any stray monsters, since technically, there's two of them, and DMG and Chaos Mage can play front and rear guard.  We'll stay that way until we reach the dungeons, basement level two."

"From there, we split up into four pairs of two and search each level separately.  Yugi and Malik will search the first floor, Yami and Dark Magician Girl will take the second level, Chaos Mage and Bakura, the third, and Gemini Elf and I will take the last floor.  We'll meet up by the stairs leading up from the second dungeon level after three hours.  If we've found Ryou, great, and if not, we'll head down to the last level," Marik said.

"And then, if we have time and depending on the status of the battle, which will be told to us by one of the smaller flying monsters," Yami began, gesturing to one of the Key Maces, who bowed and giggled, "we'll see if we can cause some damage inside the castle, maybe check to see what's going on in the real world, and see if we can find any hints as to what they're doing next."

"Wait, you're not planning to fight Seth while all his forces are away?" Gyakutenno Megami asked.

Yami shook his head. "No, not on his home field, and preferably not in the Shadow Realm.  It would take too great a toll on us that way."

Gemini Elf exhaled slowly. "Right.  Okay, are we ready?"

Nods all around.  Seiyaryu grinned, that crazy, psychotic grin that only appears when someone's going on a destruction spree or a suicide mission. "In that case, let's do it!"

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*sighs* And finally done!  Sorry that it's shorter than usual, but I really wanted to get it done by today and the real action starts next chapter.  I promise you, that and the chapter afterwards will be loads of fun, and probably longer than usual, too. ^_^ Anyways, since we have a five-day weekend next week, I'll be able to work on it a lot more… when I'm done watching Gundam Wing marathons, of course. ^_~

As usual, REVIEW!!!  I live for reviews!!!  Reviewers get cotton candy, tie-dyed into whatever colors you feel like to make it prettier!  And no flames, unless you want me to laugh and throw it back into your face.  Flames will be used to… um… hmm… I'm running out of ideas here XD.  Well, anyway, flames will be used to set my school on fire… no idea why.  It's just that I've been complaining about bringing sharp and pointy objects to school and blowing up the chemistry lab lately.  Anyway, remember to leave a nice review!


	9. Storming the Bastille I Mean, Seth's Ca...

GOMEN NASAI!!!!  I am SO SORRY this chapter is so late!!!  Between me getting new GW DVDs and going on anime marathons, plus an overload of homework, plus academic competitions that I'll have every Thursday night through the end of March, PLUS my parents pressuring me to study because of said competitions, I really don't have much time to work on my stuff… and since ESD is my current project with the longest chapters, this'll be the story that'll suffer the most. *winces* Don't worry, guys, I'll still be working on it every chance I get and updates will come sooner after the end of March.  Sorry about that.

Tie-dyed cotton candy goes to Hikage Kitsune, silvermuse89, Kage Onna, and hobbit13, and ~purple~ cotton candy goes to PhoenixTales369.  In answer to the questions, there are a couple things I forgot to explain last chapter or that didn't really fit in anywhere: One, Seth's castle and the little meeting-place of the rebels are both protected by barriers that kinda separate them from the rest of the realm.  They're there because those are some places that humans go more often than the rest of the Shadow Realm.  Two, the whole reincarnation thing kinda confuses me too… since Yami and Bakura's spirits are technically in the Millennium Items, than how the heck are Yugi and Ryou their reincarnations?  Well, my guess is that it's something like Inu-Yasha: Yugi, Ryou, and Malik have part of the soul of their previous incarnations, but not enough to really make a huge difference in the way the spirits act.  How the heck that happened, I'm not sure.  My guess is that it has something to do with staying in the Shadow Realm or in the Items for long periods of time: it might leech away their spirit, and that part eventually goes back to the real world. *shrugs* I have no idea, but it kinda makes sense to me, so that's what I'm using.  *sweatdrops and glances upward* Well, that's a long author's note… Oh well, whatever.  On with the fic!

Disclaimer: Almost forgot to do this… well, whatever.  Take a look at the word "disclaimer." Break it down – dis-claim-er.  "Dis" means don't, "claim" means… well, I hope you know what it means, and "er" is in there to make it sound better and to make it a noun.  In other words, it's a statement saying that I do not claim to own… something.  That something would be anything mentioned here, except for Zake.  Don't own YGO, don't own Mercedes-Benz (as I forgot to mention last chapter), don't own _A Tale of Two Cities_.  And I'm glad, too, or my English class would be killing me for writing such a hard-to-understand book that we're currently reading.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Eight

Storming the Bastille – I Mean, Seth's Castle

So here's the plan: Seiyaryu and Wingweaver create a distraction to lure the monsters out and get them to open the gate.  Yugi, Yami, Bakura, Malik, Marik, Dark Magician Girl, Gemini Elf, and Chaos Mage sneak in and head for the dungeons, then split up into pairs to search each of the levels.  If they haven't found Ryou within three hours, they'll meet up again and search the last level together.  Meanwhile, Seiyaryu and Wingweaver lead Seth's army off to another part of the Shadow Realm, where the other monsters will be waiting.  We'll stage a battle there, and depending on how things go, we'll either retreat or fight back after Ryou's been rescued.  Everyone got it?  Okay, let's go!

As soon as they left the barrier, Malik and Yugi started feeling the effects of the Shadow Realm almost immediately.  They did their best to ignore it, however, and started off to Seth's castle.  Some of the smaller monsters had scouted ahead and found a small rock formation, where the others would hide while the two flying monsters started their distraction.  About half a mile off from the castle, Wingweaver and Seiyaryu took off and headed for the castle.  The humans and other three monsters followed at a slower pace, heading for the rocks, where they would stay until they got the signal to enter.

Seiyaryu laughed evilly as she flew towards the castle. "Hehehe… get ready, Seth, 'cause here I come!  Mwahahaha!"

Wingweaver sweatdropped. "Will you shut up already?"

The dragon snickered. "Hey, we're getting close to the castle, and the point was to cause a distraction.  Hey Seth!" She raised her voice until she was yelling.  Wingweaver winced and covered her ears. "Oh crazy-maniacal-psychotic-evil-sadistic-freaky-extremely-strange former High Priest!  Watch out, because I'm in the mood to blow something up!"

Wingweaver muttered something under her breath and flew to the other side. "Aren't you _always_ in the mood to blow something up?"

By the rock formation, Gemini Elf, Dark Magician Girl, and Chaos Mage sweatdropped. "That's Seiyaryu, all right…"

"At least the distraction seems to be working," Yami muttered, watching as Seth's army rushed out and split up, going to the two places where Wingweaver and Seiyaryu were attacking the castle.  The two dodged the attacks easily and continued battering away at the castle.

Finding a barred window, Seiyaryu grinned, seeing what were obviously Seth's quarters on the other side. "Score!" She powered up her Razor Flare Blast to full power and unleashed it at the window, completely obliterating the window and half the wall.  Chuckling evilly, she flew in. "Time to cause some chaos!"

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Isis rounded the corner, ignoring the fleeing people and screams and shouts that filled the air.  Glancing around desperately for any sign of blond hair, she yelled, "Malik!"

No answer.  The woman sighed, annoyed that she had yet to find any trace of her little brother.  The first place she checked had been the school.  Any students that had returned there since the monster attacks began had nothing to tell her: they'd seen him shortly before the Blue-Eyes appeared, but there'd been no sign of him since.  And knowing her brother, Isis was at least reasonably sure that he'd be somewhere around the area where the monsters had been appearing.

So, she was heading in the general area of the Insect Queen.  When she arrived, Isis was surprised to find that there was nothing there – well, nothing except a bunch of craters, upturned cars, destroyed buildings, etc.  There was no sign at all of the monster, or any human life whatsoever that could tell her what had happened here – or more importantly, if Malik had been seen here lately.  Sighing, she decided to head to the Game Shop to check if Solomon had seen anything or if one of the missing boys had contacted him.  Turning away, she didn't notice the tire tracks that started on the side of the road, moved up onto the sidewalk, careened through the remains of a building, and ran over a fire hydrant before heading back to the street, in the (general) direction of the Gadget Soldier.

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"Turn left, you idiot, LEFT!!!  Not right!  That takes us away from the monster!!!" Tristan was screaming.

"Yeah?  Well, the last time I checked, the thing was to our right!  And don't scream in my ear!" Joey yelled back.  Being the one in control of the car, he was supposed to concentrate on the road – key words there being "supposed to."  Joey, being Joey, was driving like a madman – screw the stoplights.  In Joey's world, green, yellow AND red all meant "go."  Unfortunately, the pedestrians probably didn't see it his way.  Neither did the police, for that matter, but they were off dealing with the monsters and didn't have time to try and stop underage teenagers from driving illegally with a stolen car at least fifty miles per hour above the speed limit.

Both boys screamed at the top of their lungs as Joey swerved to avoid a man, who dove out of the way of the car and ran for his life.  The vehicle, however, ran straight into a stop sign, which snapped in half and flew up the windshield of the convertible.  In response to Joey, Tristan cried out, "Well, EXCUSE ME if your terrible driving is making me so dizzy that I'm losing my sense of direction!  And if I'm screaming in your ear, that's because there's no OTHER way to make myself heard over the tires screeching and the bumps in the road!"

Another fire hydrant, another loud crashing noise, another something denting the front of the car and breaking the windshield – but luckily for Tristan, he didn't have to see all that as Joey jumped on him, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be driving. "WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY DRIVING?!?  TAKE THAT BACK!!!  IT'S NOT LIKE _YOU_ COULD DO ANY BETTER!!!"

"Well, I'm sure that at least _I_ wouldn't come that close to hitting anyone!"

"I haven't hit anyone yet!"

"YET!!  You will soon enough if you DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO THE ROAD!!!"

"Wha?" Joey looked up just in time to notice the car barreling down the street at a full ninety MPH.  Miraculously, it had somehow managed to stay on the road and not hit anyone, but that was about to change.  As the car barreled towards an intersection (the stoplight facing them was glaring red), a black-haired woman of about twenty was crossing the street, apparently not realizing the danger of an incoming car with Joey Wheeler behind the wheel.  Both teenagers in the car yelped as they came closer and closer to hitting her, and the woman looked up, her eyes widening as she realized what was happening.

Joey barely had the time to recognize the sign with the turtle on it as being the place where Yugi lived before Tristan reached across him and spun the steering wheel to the left, using all the force he could muster.  The car crashed into a lamppost by the side of the road, and Joey and Tristan were jolted forward, their advance halted by the airbags that had appeared just in time for them to avoid cracking their skulls.

Isis gasped as she watched the car hit the pole.  Ignoring the fact that the hood was crumpled up, steaming, and looked about ready to explode, she dashed forward to the two boys who were sitting in the front seats. "Are you two alright?"

Extremely dazed, Joey didn't hear her question.  He groaned, turning to the teenager beside him. "Now look what you did, Tristan.  You just totally ruined our ride.  Now how are we supposed to get to the other side of town?"

Tristan muttered something under his breath before replying, "Hey, would you rather have killed someone with your reckless driving?"

"Excuse me…" Isis cut in. "I'm guessing you're both okay?"

The two boys blinked, looking up to see Isis. "Yeah, we're alright," Tristan answered, before realizing that she was the one that they had nearly hit. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered.

Joey blinked, taking a closer look at Isis for the first time. "Hey, you're Malik's sister, aren't you?  Malik Ishtar's?"

Isis started slightly in surprise. "Yes, that's me.  I'm looking for him… he hasn't come home yet.  Do you know where he might be?"

Joey and Tristan glanced nervously at each other, then back at Isis. "Um… well, you see…" Joey began hesitantly.  Malik had said to make something up rather than tell her the truth, and he had suggested telling her that he was on a field trip or something of the sort, but that wasn't really an option at this point.  Come on, anyone who had been on a field trip would have run away long, long ago… "Well, we saw him after the Blue-Eyes appeared… but then we haven't seen him since."

"Oh… well, did he tell you where he went?"

Once again, the teenagers gave each other uncomfortable looks. "Uh…" Luckily for them, they were saved an embarrassing moment when a scream rent through the air.  Ever the heroes, Joey and Tristan sprinted off in the direction of the noise, slightly relieved that they didn't have to answer the question right away.  Isis, however, wasn't about to let them get away.  She followed them into one of the alleyways close to the Game Shop and almost ran into them when they stopped suddenly near the end of the street.

Isis peered around the two boys, who were frozen in place as they stared at what was happening before them.  A gang of punks were attacking an older man, who Joey identified as Yugi's grandfather.  Apparently, Solomon had been knocked out not too long ago, and he was lying in a bloody heap on the ground, while the punks kicked him around, not seeming to care that he was already unconscious.

 "Hey!" Joey yelped, running forward along with Tristan to try and stop them. "Leave him alone!"

"All right then," Tristan muttered, "You're going down!" As an afterthought, he added, "Isis, I don't suggest you watch this…"

She nodded and turned away for the thirty seconds it took for Tristan and Joey to knock out all of the gang.  When Isis turned back around, all the punks were lying on the ground with x's for eyes and the two teenagers were kneeling down next to Yugi's grandpa, looking concerned.  Isis rushed up to them. "Is he okay?"

Joey glanced up at her, all thoughts of their previous argument forgotten. "What do you think?  He was attacked by a gang with knives, beaten up, fell unconscious, and is now on a heap on the pavement.  Of _course_ he's all right." He turned back to Solomon and addressed her over his shoulder. "I don't suppose you have a cell phone with you?"

Isis nodded and pulled it out, quickly dialing 911.  When she had finished and made sure that an ambulance was on the way, the two boys nodded at each other and stood up.  Isis blinked. "Where are you going?"

Tristan turned towards her quickly. "We, uh, have stuff we need to do.  Right now, I might add.  So can you take care of Yugi's grandpa while we're gone?"

"And just where ARE you going?"

Joey blinked. "To stop the monsters, of course.  Hey, it's not like anyone else can do it right now, now that Yugi and rest of the gang have gone to-" He caught himself just in time and quickly changed the subject. "Well, we've just got to stop them now before they cause any more havoc.  Gotta go!" With that, the two jumped up and sprinted away.

"Wait!" Isis called, but the two weren't Domino High's star runners for nothing.  They were already out of sight, and she sighed. _'They know something about Malik, I'm sure they do… but why won't they tell me?'_

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Wingweaver smiled grimly as she watched the monsters pouring out of the front gates of Seth's castle, splitting up into two groups to take out both her and Seiyaryu. "Well, the distraction seems to be working," she muttered as she continued battering the watchtower, causing debris to rain down on the unfortunate monster that was currently serving as watchman.  Ignoring his pleas for help, she unleashed one last blast that successfully caused the tower to collapse halfway down, burying half the army underneath her in rubble.

Seiyaryu's head popped up from the opposite side of the castle and she called out, "Hey Wingweaver!  I've opened an entryway into Seth's rooms!  Wanna come check it out?"

The fairy shrugged. "Sure, why not?  I've got nothing better to do right now anyway." She flew straight over the top of the castle, ignoring the indignant shouts from the monsters that she had changed her position.  Glancing downwards, she saw that a couple hundred monsters had gathered on the roof.  Shrugging and hoping there wasn't a Mirror Force or something of that sort down there, she fired a couple attacks and incinerated half the monsters.  Twitching when she realized that there was no trap, Wingweaver muttered, "That was almost too easy," before joining her dragon friend on the other end of the castle.

Seiyaryu was waiting in front of the collapsed wall, wings beating to keep her hovering in the air as she occasionally fired another Razor Flare Blast at the monsters gathered below her. "What took you so long?"

"I was decreasing the size of Seth's army," Wingweaver muttered. "Tell me why we're up here again?"

Seiyaryu shrugged. "I was thinking maybe we could find some clues as to what Seth's up to, what he plans to do next, etc.  Maybe we could head for the council room or see if any of his high officials would talk…?"

Wingweaver regarded the dragon with a bit of apprehension. "And also so you could have the fun of destroying all of Seth's personal belongings?"

Seiyaryu grinned with not a bit of embarrassment. "You know me too well.  How about you look for the info, I destroy Seth's stuff, and then we cause a bit more havoc in the upper rooms and outside.  So that way, all the monsters are either up here or down there," she gestured to the ground beneath the castle, "and the others can sneak in.  Okay?"

"Sure, why not?" Wingweaver sighed. "You've dragged me into this anyway."

"Hahaha… okay!  Let's go!" Seiyaryu smirked before loosing off a blast at the ceiling, burying half the bedroom in falling rubble.

Wingweaver ducked. "Hey, watch where you're aiming those!"

"Oops… sorry about that.  Well, are you going to go mess up Seth's plans or what?" Seiyaryu demanded.

"Fine… just promise me one thing first.  You won't block off our escape route, will you?  And keep an eye on the way out.  We don't want to get stuck in here."

Seiyaryu shrugged, not really paying attention. "Yeah, yeah, whatever.  Got it.  No blocking off the escape route, keep an eye on the way out, don't want to get stuck in here.  Just go!  I can't have proper fun with you hanging around lecturing me."

Wingweaver sighed and muttered something under her breath about idiot dragons before walking out of the room.  As soon as she was gone, Seiyaryu grinned maniacally. "Alrighty then…" Ten seconds later, practically all of Seth's personal possessions were lying in pieces on the ground.

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Yami, Yugi, Malik, Bakura, Marik, Gemini Elf, Dark Magician Girl, and Chaos Mage watched as Seiyaryu and Wingweaver started demolishing the upper levels of the castle before flying into a room through the hole Seiyaryu had created.  The monsters of Seth's army were already crowded on the top of the castle and around the base, and there didn't seem to be any monsters coming out anymore.  Yami watched, waiting until he was sure they wouldn't be seen, and then nodded. "All right, let's go.  We've got to hurry before they decide to come back in and go up through the castle to reach them."

Bakura laughed softly. "I doubt that'll happen.  That place is like twenty floors tall, and I doubt they have… what're they called again?"

"Elevators," Yugi muttered distantly.

"Yes, elevators…"

Yami shushed them quickly, making sure that no other monsters were in sight. "Now!"

The eight of them jumped up, sprinting towards the castle as fast as they could.  Chaos Mage and Dark Magician Girl took the lead, followed by Bakura, Marik, Malik, Yami, and Yugi.  Gemini Elf took the rear.

Bakura smirked slightly. "This is almost too easy.  Where're all the monsters?"

As if on cue, a Ryu-Kishin Powered turned the corner, stopping suddenly at the sight of the group running towards the castle. "HEY!"

"Shut up!" Gemini Elf yelled, leaving her place at the back of the group.  One slash and the monster stopped and burst into a million pieces.  Grabbing Yami and Yugi, she bounded to the front. "Come on!  Someone had to have heard that.  We've got to get inside!"

If they'd been running as fast as they could before, now they were running as fast as was humanly possible.  Darting through the front gates, Bakura spotted some stone paths that seemed to need some repairing, as there were large piles of stone and wood next to them. "Over there!"

The humans made a wild run for the piles and slipped behind them, holding their breaths.  Dark Magician Girl, Chaos Mage, and Gemini Elf stayed behind.  Soon enough, the sound of footsteps reached their ears, and a voice asked, "What was that?"

"Nothing," Chaos Mage answered calmly. "I thought I saw something moving, but it wasn't anything important.  Just a Kuriboh that got a little too close to the castle.  I took care of it."

"Oh." The monster paused. "Wait, I don't think I've ever seen you three around here before…"

"You haven't." The three attacked in unison, destroying the opposing monster instantly.

Dark Magician Girl turned to the five humans who were crouched behind the stack. "Okay, we're in the clear.  Let's go."

The group snuck in silently through the front door.  Well, the monsters and Bakura were silent; the others occasionally bumped into something that happened to be in their way, causing little noises that made the group stop and listen for a few agonizing moments before they continued on their way.

Bakura was muttering under his breath about the incompetence of the others the whole time. "I can't believe you guys… you call this quiet?  You call this stealth?  A five-year-old from Kuru Eruna could do better than you!"

Yami's patience snapped. "Well, excuse US if we're not all tomb robbers and thieves!  I bow to your superiority, O King of Thieves!"

Bakura smirked. "About time I got the recognition I deserve."

Yami was about to make a smart retort when Yugi hushed him, reminding him of the need for silence.  Instead, the Pharaoh was left to pout while Bakura smirked about being one-up on him.

They reached the door to the basement levels of the castle soon.  Yami was about to reach over and open it, but Bakura stopped him.

Yami glared at him. "What is it, tomb robber?  If you want to do the honors, go right ahead."

Bakura smiled blandly. "You really are an amateur, Pharaoh.  One," he moved to stand beside the door handle and gestured at the door, "This probably has an alarm system attached to it, to be triggered when someone other than Seth or an authorized guard touches the handle.  Two, what do you want to bet it's locked?"

Yami scowled at him. "Trust _you_ to come up with those theories."

Bakura grinned. "I appreciate the compliment.  Now, give me a few minutes to figure out how to open this." With that, he bent over the door, studying the frame for a few moments while being careful not to touch the handle.

Yugi and Malik watched in interest as he summoned some of his magic and placed it into the door, where it spread to cover the entryway.  A few minutes later, symbols started appearing in a dark, almost navy blue color, that looked somewhat like hieroglyphics.  Bakura read through some of these, muttering under his breath.

Malik couldn't take it anymore. "What are you doing?"

Bakura glanced up at him for a moment. "Hm?  Oh, just checking the structure of the spell.  It looks as if it was made by Seth, which is what I thought… well, that makes it that much easier to break it."

"Even if it was Seth that made it?" Yugi wondered. "But wouldn't that be _harder_, since he's good at magic?"

Bakura laughed. "The one thing you kids have to learn is that the power of the mage rarely has anything to do with how hard it is to break the spell." Yugi and Malik stared at him.  Bakura sweatdropped. "Okay, so it has a lot to do with it, but that's not the point.  The point is, Seth just gave me a way to break his magic.  Oh, here it is!" He pointed at a series of symbols that looked like all the rest to Yugi and Malik.  Smirking, Bakura traced them with his finger, and they flashed for a moment before the thief's hand also started glowing, the same color as the hieroglyphics.  Reaching for the door handle, Bakura touched it.  It flashed once in recognition of the magic before all the symbols faded.

Marik blinked. "What just happened?"

Bakura shrugged. "Since Seth made the door, there was a bit of his magic in it.  I just copied it and used it to get rid of the alarm.  Now to pick the lock…" It took the King of Thieves a grand total of five seconds to get the door open.  Grinning in triumph, he turned the handle and the door swung inwards.  The group descended the first flight of stairs, coming to basement level one.

Yami twitched as soon as he saw what was in the next room. "The heck?"

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Zake put down the pair of binoculars, turning to Seth. "They've broken into your rooms."

Seth shrugged. "So?"

"You don't care?" Kaiba questioned.

"Not particularly," the priest answered. "That castle was bound to fall anyway.  It won't matter much, since it's in the Shadow Realm and my kingdom will be all of the real world anyway."

"What about Ryou?" Kaiba asked.

Seth gave him a sharp look. "Since when have you taken to calling the prisoners by name?"

"Since you captured Mokuba," the CEO retorted. "He's still in there!"

Seth didn't look like he cared too much. "They won't completely demolish the place; they'll have to leave before then anyway.  Besides, I doubt that they'll try to hurt any of my prisoners.  Haven't you heard the saying, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend?' "

"All that goes out the window when you're involved," Kaiba muttered under his breath.  Luckily, Seth didn't hear.

"And as for that white-haired kid, we don't need him anyway," Seth continued. "That was just to get them here, to the Shadow Realm.

"For what purpose?"

Seth smiled enigmatically. "You'll soon find out."

"Aren't you worried that they'll find out what your plans are?" Zake asked.

Seth grinned wickedly. "Let them.  That'll make this all the more interesting.  For now, let's forget about all that and enjoy the upcoming battle, okay?"

"Enjoy the battle?" Kaiba stared at Seth in disbelief. "What about the monsters back at the castle?  You left them there with no leadership.  For all we know, there'll be nothing left of them by the time we get back."

Seth chuckled. "Oh, there will be… Pharaoh and the others will be busy trying to rescue that kid.  They didn't bring that many monsters with them… they'll be greatly outnumbered.  It will be easy to wipe them out, along with those monsters that came with them, who are most likely the leaders of this little band.  Even if they do escape, we can chase them down in the real world.  There's nowhere that they can go that I can't reach.  And besides… I have my own ways of doing things.  They can't stay away from me long, even if they tried."

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"…you have _so_ got to be kidding me."

"This wasn't in the blueprints," Bakura muttered, staring into the room.

"Well, apparently, Seth's had some reconstruction of the dungeon levels, because the fact still remains that we are standing in the first basement level with NO IDEA where to go next!" Yami yelled in frustration.

As previously stated, they were standing in a room on basement level one of Seth's castle.  It was circular in size, and not exactly something you'd think you'd find in the Shadow Realm.  It looked almost like a living room, complete with sofa, table, fireplace, and lamp.  The only thing that was missing seemed to be a TV set.  It was anyone's guess as to how Seth had had the time and energy to fashion a living room in his basement that looked almost modern-day, when he wasn't supposed to have been out of the Shadow Realm for a couple thousand years.  With Kaiba and Zake's help, maybe?  Well, anyway, the point is that the room looked just like a typical, circular living room that could be found in any American household all over the United States.  Albeit the fact that it had eight doors leading out of it, including the one they had entered by.

Marik swiveled around, staring behind them at the door they had come through. "You know, if it wasn't for the fact that there's a stone staircase in the door behind us, I'd almost think that we were in Malik's living room," he commented.

"The last time I checked, my living room only had about _two_ ways to get in or out," Malik said sarcastically. "So, oh great, powerful, and all-knowing Pharaoh, where to next?"

"That's easy, we try one of these doors," Yami said.

Bakura rolled his eyes, walking towards one of the doors. "Yes, but which one?" he asked. "Besides, we don't know if there are any traps behind the doors, or if Seth put one of his alarms on these… but I highly doubt he bothered this time around.  It would be too complicated if he did."

"So in other words…?"

Bakura shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I agree with the Pharaoh: we wander around aimlessly and try to avoid any traps.  So where to first?"

Dark Magician Girl shrugged. "Straight ahead sounds good to me."

"Sure, why not?"

~~~Ten minutes later~~~

They entered through another door… only to find themselves right back at the living room setting.  Malik sighed in frustration. "See, I _told_ you we should've taken a right at the kitchen!"

Marik glared at him. "Hey, didn't I tell you that the bedroom we passed through before looked familiar?  We went through it before that!"

"Don't tell me…" Gemini Elf muttered.  She went to the door directly to their left and flung it open, to reveal the stairs that they had entered by.  She grumbled something incomprehensible and probably inappropriate under her breath.

"So we've been going in circles this whole time?" Chaos Mage asked.

"No DUH!"

"Is anyone else reminded of those video games where you always end up back where you started and the only way to get where you want to go is to wander around randomly for hours on end?" Yugi asked.

Bakura sighed. "I don't know about you, but I do _not_ want to wander around for hours!  Our time's going to run out; we can't stay here forever, you know."

Unlike the others in the group, Yami was about the only one who had been able to keep a level head. "This has to be some sort of magic," he mused. "I know for a fact that we either went straight ahead or northeast whenever we could.  There's no way we could end up back where we started unless there was some force of magic at work."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Marik muttered, not in a good mood. "I think this could've been planned better.  Okay, so maybe we couldn't anticipate this, but we could have at least allowed for some flexibility!"

"Well then, if this is magic, I don't suppose anyone here knows a good way to break the spell or at least get to where we want to go?" Dark Magician Girl asked.

"Let's try something, shall we?" Yami said, leading the group to the door directly across from it.  They opened it and went inside, revealing what looked like a gameroom.  Ignoring this, Yami closed the door, then opened it again.  The living room was no longer there; instead, it looked more like a closet.

"And what was the point of doing that?"

"To prove that this _is_ like those games where you come in through one path, go back, and end up in a different place than you started from?" Yugi asked.

"Not exactly… all it proves is that, even if we marked the paths we took, we'd end up in a different place if we took them again." Yami told them.

"That's great.  Now, do you have any bright ideas on how to the next level?" Malik asked.

"Well, maybe…" Yami frowned. "It might have to do with where we want to go.  We've been wanting to reach the next level, so it brought us back to where we started from.  So maybe, if we want to reach the stairs where we came from, it would bring us to the stairs to the next basement level."

The others stared at him. "Would you mind telling us that so that we can understand it, Yami?" Bakura asked.

Yami sighed in frustration. "Just think that you want to go back to where we started from.  I'm just testing out a theory, but it may work."

"Okay… so what now?"

"Now, we start by going through this door." They walked into the closet, which was a pretty tight fit, and Yami frowned slightly. "So, if we wanted to reach the stairs to the basement level… in the first room, the stairs were right about… here." He flung open the door, to reveal a bathroom.

Yugi sweatdropped. "Does Seth have an entire modern-day house in his basement?"

Gemini Elf shrugged. "Does it matter?  I'm pretty sure we haven't been in this room before."

Yami nodded his agreement. "Let's go.  If we keep heading in the direction where we think we came from, then we should eventually end up at the stairs to the next level."

So after passing through two bedrooms, a computer room, a loft, another bathroom, and an attic, they finally ended up in the first room that actually looked like it belonged in the basement of a Shadow Realm castle.  What was even better, it only had one door in it, not counting the one the group had used to get in.

"Think this is it?" Chaos Mage asked.

Bakura shrugged. "There's only one way to find out." He strode towards the door and flung it open, to reveal…

"Stairs!  The stairs to the next level!" Malik crowed. "All right!"

"Congratulations, Pharaoh.  It has been officially proved that you are indeed the King of Games," Marik stated, grinning. "Well, what are we waiting for?  On to the next level!  And probably the next puzzle, too…"

They descended the stairs, trying to ignore the fact that Marik was probably right.  There was still one more level before they reached the basement, and knowing Seth, that level had probably also been renovated… and it would be harder to get through than the last one.  And, of course, they were right.

Bakura sighed, shaking his head in annoyance. "Why can't anything ever be easy for us?"

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Practically all of the top floor of the castle had been completely trashed, thanks to a certain crazy dragon who had been let loose inside the place.  About the only two rooms that hadn't been touched yet were Seth's office and the meeting room, and that was because they were currently in the domain of Wingweaver, who wouldn't let Seiyaryu anywhere near the place as long as her friend was in hyper-destructive mode.

Flipping through the papers that littered the desk and tables, Wingweaver muttered, "Why the heck does Seth need all this stuff anyway?  It's not _that_ complicated to stage an attack on the world.  Well, okay, so we're making things a little difficult for him, but it's not that bad… what's this?" She grinned as she realized what she held. " 'Top threats to my plan'? Hahaha, sounds interesting… 'One, the Pharaoh and his little pals.  Two, the rebels.' Seiyaryu would throw a fit if she saw this, since we're only ranked second… 'Three, SETO KAIBA?!?' The heck?  Why would _Kaiba_ be on this list, if he's working for Seth?  Unless they never really agreed with each other in the first place, and Seth's using his own means to have Kaiba on his side… but then that means he _would_ be a threat.  Take away whatever Seth has against Kaiba and he's completely powerless over his reincarnation… that's just it!  Kaiba's Seth's reincarnation, so he would have basically the same raw power, and with a bit of training, would be his equal in strength.  So that means that Seth's actually _afraid_ that Kaiba will work against him, and that would be a problem…" Deciding to hold onto the paper for future reference, Wingweaver went through the rest of the papers.

"Let's see… this one says there are twenty main generals in Seth's army, each one a different type of monster.  Since they're only really destroyed in the Shadow Realm, then that means that only three of them are actually gone… which leaves seventeen more to take care of.  Great.  This will be _so_ much fun…"

"What's this one?" Wingweaver skimmed through it quickly, frowning. "It's a list of names… Mokuba Kaiba.  Solomon Muto.  Those are the only two that are checked off… wonder what that means?  And then, after that… Serenity Wheeler.  Never heard of her.  And one more… Isis Ishtar?  Sounds familiar… where have I heard that name before?  Ishtar…"

Before she could ponder it any further, Seiyaryu popped her head into the entryway. "Hey Wing!  Find anything interesting?  Can I destroy the other rooms now?"

"Yeah, sure, go ahead…" Wingweaver muttered, then did a double take. "Seiyaryu?  I thought I told you to watch our escape route!"

Seiyaryu grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah, huh… you did, didn't you?  Well, I found something that I think you might want to take a look at…"

"Fine.  If you didn't destroy it, it must be something important."

The dragon shrugged. "I couldn't destroy it, but it wasn't for lack of trying…"

Wingweaver's interest was peaked. "What is it?"

"Come and see for yourself." Seiyaryu led the way to a room that was slightly off to the side of Seth's bedroom.  As soon as they were out of the meeting room, Seiyaryu turned around and loosed off an attack at the ceiling of the room, causing it to collapse.  Wingweaver gave her a strange look, and she sweatdropped. "Hehe… sorry.  Couldn't help myself."

"Whatever," Wingweaver muttered, then gasped as they entered the room that held the object in question. "What…?"

"That's what I've been trying to figure out," Seiyaryu shrugged.  She walked up to the glowing golden orb that was floating in midair and poked it.  The globe flashed once before it stopped glowing and settled down, showing an image of a city with a Gadget Soldier wreaking havoc in it.

"Gadget Soldier… the machine general," Wingweaver muttered, before gasping slightly. "It shows the real world!"

"Well, duh… watch this." Seiyaryu poked it again, and the scene changed to show two boys, running down a street in the direction of the Gadget Soldier.  Another poke, and it changed to the inside of an ambulance, where an unconscious old man and an younger, black-haired woman were.  The next scene was of a young girl with long brown hair, sitting alone and looking nervous in an empty apartment.  One last poke, and the globe flashed before it started glowing again.

Seiyaryu looked at Wingweaver. "Well, what do you think?"

"At this point, I don't know what to think," the fairy muttered. "Well, whatever.  It's obviously of some importance.  Take it."

Seiyaryu nodded and grinned. "Okay!" She grabbed it and settled it between her wings before looking back. "Well, are we done here?"

"I guess so… it's been at least an hour since we got in.  I'm sure the others are inside by now.  We've caused enough of a distraction, so let's go."

"Otay!" Seiyaryu chirped. "Time to meet up with the others!"

"That's supposing everything's been going right…" Wingweaver muttered.

Seiyaryu shot her a glare as they walked back into what was left of Seth's rooms. "Have some hope, Wing.  Of course everything's been going right!  What could go wrong?"

The two stopped dead right in front of the hole they had used to enter.  Wingweaver sighed. "That, maybe?  I told you that you should've kept watch over this place…"

Because crowded around the collapsed wall were what looked like all of the flying Duel Monsters that Seth had at his disposal.

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"Well, isn't that typical," Malik muttered. "A maze.  I'm serious, in every evil guy's castle, there is always a dark, dank, and spooky maze.  Riddled with traps at every dead end, too, I'm betting you."

"Shut up, Malik."

The group stared down at the maze.  They were standing on a ledge, with stairs leading down to the beginning of said maze, looking on at the walls that seemed to stretch on forever.  They couldn't see it from where they stood, but the stairs were probably at the other end.  Which meant that they had to go through it to get to the next level.

"I have an idea," Yugi suggested. "Why can't we just fly over it and find the way down that way?"

"There's an idea, except I'm betting you Seth's already thought of that," Chaos Mage said. "Watch this." She picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it ahead of them, into empty space.  It hit an invisible barrier and bounced back, forcing the group to duck. "See?  Magic.  We won't get in that way."

"Then what about under?"

"That would take too long," Yami mused. "Then that leaves only two ways: going straight through, and going through the maze."

"Aren't they the same thing?" Marik asked, confused.

Bakura shook his head. "The Pharaoh means going _straight_ through.  As in, breaking a path straight through the walls."

"Oh…"

"But I'm betting it won't work," Bakura continued.  He jumped down the stairs and held up a card. "Watch!" The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams popped out of the card, and Bakura ordered it to attack.  It did, blasting a hole in the wall – for about two seconds, before the wall magically fixed itself.  Bakura rolled his eyes. "Told you." He went back up the stairs, joining the others.

"Well, then, the only way is to find a way through," Yami said matter-of-factly.

"Then please tell us how you suggest we do that?" Marik snapped.

Dark Magician Girl shrugged. "Well, the only way I could think of is to go in there and mark off every path we take… except that would take us days to get through, and there's still the problem of getting back out."

"So then…?"

"We go down there and hope we don't get lost?" Gemini Elf suggested.  Everyone sweatdropped.

"I was thinking more along the lines of trying to keep going in the right direction," Yami muttered. "We know that the next flight of stairs is almost directly opposite this one, so if we go that way…"

"And what if we hit a dead end right there?" Bakura asked.

"…we can discuss that when we get to the first fork," Yami said.

"Wow, so even the famed King of Games doesn't know what he's doing," Marik muttered, but was quickly shushed by the others.  Team morale wasn't very high, considering all the annoying, unexpected obstacles that they had met so far.

The first fork in the road didn't take too long to reach.  There was a choice of three paths, and no way to tell which one to take.  Bakura turned to Yami. "Where to, Pharaoh?"

"Just pick one, tomb robber," Yami hissed.

Bakura shrugged and stepped onto the path on their left.  Immediately, a slight scratching sound was heard and Bakura's thief instincts kicked in.  He quickly jumped back, just in time to avoid the rain of knives that came flying at him from the ceiling.

Yugi sweatdropped. "There are traps?!?  This makes it so much more fun…"

"Let's just go…" Malik muttered. "Besides, something tells me that isn't the right path." He walked straight ahead and paused for a moment.  When nothing dropped on his head, opened beneath his feet, or flew towards him, he shrugged and continued walking.  The others exchanged glances before following him.

They soon realized that not every wrong turning was marked by a trap that appeared as soon as you stepped onto it.  Having tried both paths on a fork (one leading to a dead end, the other to pit full of spikes), the group realized that they must've taken a wrong turning somewhere and backtracked, only to realize that they couldn't even recognize which path they had originally come from in the first place.  Bakura sighed and slumped to the ground.

"I give up," he murmured. "We've been wandering around here for at least an hour and we're still nowhere near reaching the end.  Any bright ideas, Yami?"

"I was about to ask you," the Pharaoh returned. "You're the one who has experience navigating through mazes to get to the gold.  Mind telling us how you managed it, tomb robber?"

"Easy," Bakura said sarcastically. "You look at each path and take the one with the least amount of obvious treasure.  The others are obviously decoys to lure you into a trap."

"Well, that's nice," Chaos Mage said. "Do _you_ see any handy piles of gold to tell us where _not_ to go?"

"No, but Bakura may have an idea there…" Yami said slowly.

The others looked at him. "What did you say?" Gemini Elf asked in amazement. "Did the Pharaoh actually just _compliment_ the tomb robber?"

Both Yami and Bakura chose to ignore the comment. "What I'm saying is that we should look at the clues that we have, and that may lead us to traps," Yami said.

"And those would be…?" Malik asked, taking a few steps forward and sneezing suddenly. "Hurry up.  I don't like it in here; it doesn't seem like it's been cleaned since the place was built."

Yami chuckled. "Take a look around you.  Like you said, this floor doesn't seem to have been cleaned for a while.  It's covered in dust."

"Your point being?" Dark Magician Girl asked, still not getting it.

Yami grinned, which quickly spread to Bakura. "I must admit, Yami, you actually seem to have something there for once," the thief remarked. "What he's trying to say is that the path that leads to the next level won't seem to be as dusty, since it's traveled along the most.  Which means…"

Yugi got the idea. "Which means that we just have to follow along that path until we reach the stairs to the next level!  You're a genius, Yami!"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say that, but you must admit, he _does_ have a knack for games," Marik muttered. "Well, then, what are we waiting for?  Let's go!"

"Um…" Gemini Elf interrupted. "I hate to break it to you, but there are _two_ paths that seem to be clear here: the one where we came from and the one that leads to where we're trying to go."

"Oh…" Yami paused for a moment, but the smile didn't disappear from Bakura's face for an instant.

"Don't look so down, Pharaoh.  Don't tell me you already forgot about that rock that almost fell on our heads before we got to this point!" Bakura pointed down a pathway, and sure enough, there was a distant shadow of a boulder down it.

"Well then, let's go!" Chaos Mage called.

Bakura gave a fake pout. "What, don't I even get any thanks?"

Yami gave him a glance before heading down the correct path. "Yeah, sure.  Thanks, Bakura.  It seems you're actually good for something."

"Thanks a lot for the compliment, Pharaoh…"

It was half an hour later of stopping at every fork, examining every path, and going down the one that seemed to be right.  Sure, they made a couple mistakes here and there, but that was to be expected.  After all, we can't expect Yami to listen to Bakura's pearls of wisdom all the time, can we?

So it was that they were heading back to the last fork they had come from, Bakura muttering about the Pharaoh being so stubborn as to not listen to him and almost having something acidic dumped on his head.  Yami was choosing to ignore him, but judging from the vein popping out of his forehead, he'd be in the mood to throttle a certain tomb robber soon enough.

Reaching the fork, Bakura immediately went to the only one of the three paths that they hadn't taken. "So, I'm just wondering how we'll able to get out of here once we've rescued Ryou," he said casually.

"That's easy, we just follow the path we took to get here…"

"Ah.  And does anyone else happen to remember how often we took a wrong turning?"

Dead silence met his question.  After a while, Yugi muttered uneasily, "Well… I guess we'll just solve that problem when we get to it…"

Bakura grinned in triumph. "Right answer, little Pharaoh.  You're becoming more and more like a tomb robber every day."

The rest of the group sweatdropped.  Malik leaned down to whisper in Yugi's ear, "The way he says it, you'd think it was a good thing." The shorter boy nodded agreement.

They soon reached a large, circular room with a door at the opposite end, and Bakura smirked. "And once again, the tomb robber instincts always lead you in the right direction!" He started for the door when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.  He looked down to see Yugi, whose confusion showed in his large purple eyes. "What is it?"

"Don't you think this might be a trap?" Yugi murmured.

Dark Magician Girl blinked. "Well, what makes you say that?"

"It's a classic element in lots of video games.  You have a big, circular room, and there's this part in the middle that, if you walk into it, something pops out and attacks you…"

Bakura shrugged. "If you ask me, I'd say that someone's been playing too many games.  C'mon, there's nothing there, and even if there is, we're at least somewhat prepared now, right?" Without waiting for an answer, he stepped into the center of the room.

The stones beneath him started glowing, and Bakura jumped back in reflex. "What in the name of Osiris?" He then glanced at Yugi. "Y'know, I'm starting to think you were right."

Out of the circle of magic rose an oddly-shaped figure.  A strange, feminine cackle filled the room, and as the light faded, it revealed none other than a Duel Monster.

"Okay, who _didn't_ see that coming?" Malik muttered.

The monster, which looked like a sort of green-skinned woman with a rose as the lower half of her body, peered down at the group before her. "Who is it that wishes to pass onto the next level?" she asked.

Marik sweatdropped. "Um… us?"

The monster, now identified as a Rose Spectre of Dunn, glared at them. "I am the guardian of this maze.  The one who makes it out has to identify themselves to me as either Lord Seth or one of his servants, or else incur my wrath!"

"I'm guessing that was the wrong answer!" Gemini Elf yelled.

The group scattered as a vine snaked its way out from the monster's body and whipped towards them. "Whatever gave you that idea?!?"

"Don't worry, I'll handle this!" Chaos Mage dodged another one of the vines before coming in for an attack.  The Rose Spectre barely had time for one last scream before it disintegrated for good.

"Well, that was easy enough," Bakura remarked. "Unexpected, but rather easy." Everyone else glared at him, not too pleased that he hadn't listened to Yugi's warning.  He ignored them. "Let's get going, shall we?"

Before they had a chance to open the door, which undoubtedly led to the staircase to the next level, a smaller white circle began glowing in the middle of the room.  They turned towards it, and Marik glanced expectantly at Yugi. "What do you think, video game expert?"

Yugi shrugged. "My guess is a portal to the beginning of the maze.  We'll test it out when we've got Ryou back.  Now let's go!" And so they descended the stairs, finally reaching the dungeons after making it through Seth's two levels of dungeon insanity.

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As Ryou soon found out, it wasn't easy to pick the lock on a jail cell, especially if you couldn't manage the handcuffs.  It was even harder to pick the lock when you were locked inside said cell.  Needless to say, Ryou was getting very frustrated very quickly and was about to throw away the lock-picking set before he thought better of it.

As he absently (and futilely) tried to pick the lock on the manacles that were still around his arms, Ryou stared into the cell across from him, trying to figure out a way, ANY WAY, that would enable him to reach his magic.  The chains on the manacles weren't long enough to reach, he'd already tried that, so he couldn't drag it over… dropping the tools, Ryou grumbled something incomprehensible and reached to pick it up, deciding to give up on the lock-picking thing for the time being.  Bakura wasn't called the King of Thieves for nothing; if Ryou couldn't even pick a lock with a set of tools designed just for that, he wondered how Bakura managed with next to nothing.  It was a complete mystery to him as to why anyone could do it at all.

Ryou returned his attention to the little jar that held his magic in the cell across from him.  If he couldn't reach it, he might as well try and break it… but that would be difficult, to say the least.  Ryou wasn't exactly known for his throwing arm, and it didn't help that there were at least two sets of bars in the way.  Picking up various rocks and aiming at the bottle, he threw them all, until there were none left in the cell.  All either missed the bottle, hit the bars, or bounced off the bottle without leaving so much as a dent, leaving him with nothing but considerably less to work with than what he had started with.  Annoyed with the uselessness of the lock-picks, Ryou tried to throw those, too, but the case just bounced off the bars and lay there.

Ryou sighed and leaned back against the bars of the cell. "Where is everyone?" he asked himself. "No one's been down here for a while, not even Kaiba and Seth to see Mokuba… I wonder what's going on up there?  I'm betting Bakura and the others are here in the Shadow Realm somewhere, trying to break me out… come to think of it, I'm doing the same thing, but not doing it very well." He sighed again and turned to look at the light blue magic that was swirling lazily inside the glass bottle.  Maybe he shouldn't have thrown the lock-picks out there, maybe he should have kept trying, maybe… maybe there was another way.

_'Why am I kidding myself?'_ he thought bitterly. _'There's no other way out, except to break down the bars, pick the lock, go through the walls or ceiling, or to use magic.  One, I'm not strong enough to break down the bars.  Two, the lock-picks are out there, where I can't reach.  Three, there's no way I can get through the walls or ceiling.  And four, all of my magic's locked away in that little bottle.  Wait… not all of it…'_

Ryou sat bolt upright, suddenly remembering something he'd had on him that day at school.  Sure, they'd let him keep the kind of magic he needed to summon Duel Monsters, but they had taken his deck.  But maybe, just maybe… he dug in his pockets for a moment.  Not finding it, he searched more frantically, before his hand came into contact with something in the pocket of his jacket and he relaxed slightly, taking it out.

"Thank goodness," he sighed, really smiling for the first time since he had gotten here. "I have to remember to thank Yugi for this." For in his hands, he held an unopened Duel Monsters booster pack.  Apparently, Seth's guards were none too bright and couldn't put two and two together, not figuring out that the monsters on the pack meant that it held monster cards.

Ryou ripped the pack open, searching for anything that could help him. "United We Stand… good card, but _not_ what I need… Driving Snow, Hyozanryu, is there any non-sacrifice monster in here?  Oh, here's one!  Hinotama Soul!"

The monster appeared, and would have made some sort of battle cry if Ryou hadn't quickly shushed it.  Sure, it was a relatively weak monster, but the flames would be able to melt the iron bars, wouldn't they? "Hinotama Soul!  Melt the bars and get me out of here!"

The small monster nodded and obeyed, flaming the bars down to pools of heated iron on the floor before returning to its card.  Grinning in triumph, Ryou stepped over the molten metal, picked up the lock-pick tools on the floor, and opened the door of the cell across from his.  He stepped on the glass bottle and the magic immediately returned to his body, flowing through his veins in rampant power before settling down again.  Ryou smiled, slightly evilly; he hadn't felt this good in a while.

"Now then, Seth," he whispered, "let's see what an irate magic-using teenager can to your castle, shall we?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And… done!  Finally! *sighs* Yet again, extremely sorry about the wait, guys.  Next chapter'll be up in maybe three weeks or so, due to the conditions that I explained earlier… BLAME IT ON THE SCHOOL, NOT ME!!!  On the upside, I'm done watching GW, so no more random anime marathons until spring break for me. ;p Oh, and about the title… we're doing _A Tale of Two Cities_ in English, as well as the French Revolution in history, so anytime I think of storming something nowadays, it's the Bastille.

The usual, review, review, review, no flames, etc., etc.  Reviewers get cake ("Let them eat cake!" said Marie-Antoinette), with pretty colored frosting and pretty colored sprinkles and whatever flavor you feel like having.  Flames will be used to test what synthesized compound of my choice is flammable – in front of your house, too!!  MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!  Of course, that's assuming I know where you live… so no flames, HK.  Said compounds will be donated to Bakura and all my fellow pyros worldwide.


	10. Wreaking Havoc

Cake!  Yummy yummy cake goes to hobbit13, ShadowFire2, silvermuse89, and Hikage Kitsune.  Once again, sorry for the extreme lateness of this chapter.  Don't worry, tho, Academic League's over, so now I'll be able to work on this more.  Gomen nasai that I haven't been able to work on this more…

Oh, I just kinda spotted a plot hole that I think I should explain away.  You may remember, a few chapters back, that Yugi summoned a Mystical Elf in the real world for answers to his questions about why a Leogun appeared at school, but she couldn't talk?  Well, my explanation for why Seiyaryu and the others can is that they're in the Shadow Realm at the moment, and that's one of the differences between the Shadow Realm and here: they lose some of their power when coming to the real world, and can't talk.  Or something like that.

Disclaimer: Hmm… well, if you want one, go read it on each of the chapters before this.  If you still don't get the point, then I'll tell you: I DO NOT OWN ANY MANGA, ANIME, CARS, ETC.  Therefore, since YGO is both a manga and an anime, and I do not own any anime or manga, then therefore, by using deduction, I do not own YGO.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Nine

Wreaking Havoc

_Gadget Soldier_

_Fire/Machine_

Level Six 

_ATK/1800 DEF/2000_

"Tell me again just why you memorized the stats for this card," Tristan grumbled as he and Joey dodged the attack that had been fired in their direction.

"Don't ask me.  I just know that it's really coming in handy right about now," the blond answered. "So, got any brilliant ideas to take down this thing, or do I have the honor of beating it myself?"

Tristan grinned. "Hey, I was the one who beat the Insect Queen almost single-handedly.  I think it's time you earned yourself a bit of honor, hmm?"

Joey shot him a glare and strode forward. "Oh, c'mon!  This coming from the person who didn't even _know_ anything was going on until a Blue-Eyes appeared in the schoolyard!"

"Hey, are you going to take care of it or what?"

"Fine, fine," Joey mumbled, rolling his sleeves up and pulling his deck out.  His characteristic grin quickly appeared on his face as he reached for a card. "Just watch the master at work!  Gearfried, the Iron Knight!"

As soon as it saw the other machine appear, the Gadget Soldier immediately turned its attention to Gearfried and started firing.  The Knight quickly deflected it and raced at its enemy, swinging at it, but the Gadget Soldier also blocked it.  Since both had attack 1800, it was and would be a stalemate until something else happened to offset the balance.  Meanwhile, off to the side, Joey was going through his cards frantically, and smiled when he came across a card that could help. "Malevolent Nuzzler!  All right!"

"Wait, Joey-" Tristan was cut off when his friend held up the card, motioning it to attach itself to Gearfried.  He sighed. "Too late."

Joey's smile quickly slipped off his face when his magic card moved to equip itself to Gearfried, but quickly slid off and disappeared as soon as it touched. "What the – oh, man.  I can't believe I forgot that about my own monster!"

"Nice going, Joey," Tristan yelled. "Gearfried can't take equip cards!"

"Don't you think I figured that out?" Apparently, the Gadget Soldier wasn't as dumb as it looked.  Having seen the blond use the magic card on its opponent, Seth's monster put two and two together and decided that, since Joey was the one controlling the other monster, Joey should be made his first target.  As the attack flew toward him, Joey ducked quickly and yelped. "Isn't there a rule against monsters attacking people?"

As the Gadget Soldier rushed back at Joey, Gearfried stopped the attack and started fighting again, giving Joey the time to run and duck behind a car while searching his deck for any cards that might possibly help in this situation.  Frantically going through his cards, Joey somehow managed to drop half his deck on the ground.  Groaning and leaning over to pick them up, looking for ANYTHING that could possibly get him out of the situation he'd found himself in, he almost missed Tristan's gasp of amazement, along with what happened next.

"What the-" Joey glanced up, just in time to see what looked like a building pop out of nowhere, drag Gadget Soldier through it using a mechanical arm, and throw the machine monster back out with many adjustments before disappearing again, as mysteriously as it had appeared. "Machine Conversion Factory!  That's not fair!"

"Has it ever occurred to you that, since you could use magic cards, Seth could too?" Tristan snapped back.

"Well, yes, but do _you_ see Seth anywhere around here?" Joey yelled, only to be interrupted by another card flying in from nowhere.  He groaned. "Oh, no, don't tell me… Limiter Removal!"

_'Well, that certainly isn't a good thing,'_ he thought to himself as the Gadget Soldier grew bigger to accommodate its increase in power.  It was now at 3900 attack points, and roughly the size of a two-story house, which didn't mean good news for the Gearfried it was fighting, with a measly 1800 attack.  Did I forget to mention that Seth's monster was still after Joey and any other humans in the area?

Two seconds later, Gadget Soldier's attack had completely obliterated Gearfried and anything else within ten feet.  The force of the blast sent Joey flying backward, and he winced as he felt his monster die.  In the real world, there was no such thing as a turn-based summoning system; instead, you just had to wait until you had enough magical energy to summon another monster.  Unfortunately, with no training in magic whatsoever, it had been all that Joey could do to summon Gearfried, and it would probably take at least another hour before he could even risk trying again.  That didn't leave many options, and there was still the fact that Gadget Soldier had destroyed his one monster and now had its sights set on Joey.

"Um, Tristan?  Some help here?" Joey cried.  Upon receiving no answer, he looked around frantically. "Tristan?" He sweatdropped as he noticed the other boy unconscious on the street, bleeding a little from the various small cuts he'd gotten from flying rubble.  A bigger piece of broken building was lying next to him, giving evidence of what exactly the object had been that had knocked his friend out.

"Great…" Joey muttered. "Well then, I guess I'm on my own now.  Here's to hoping I can beat this metal monster without getting myself killed!"

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"Eheheh…" Seiyaryu laughed nervously. "Hey Wing, would now be too late for me to tell you that I think you're right for once?"

Wingweaver sighed and shook her head. "This is SO not good."

As large as Seth's ground army was, and as powerful as some of his monsters were, it paled in comparison to the sheer number of things on wings that were floating/flying/crowded around the opening on the wall.  It seemed like at least three hundred monsters were there, all with attack over 1500 and all with murder in their eyes, facing toward the wall and ready to attack as soon as they saw any sign of movement.  Luckily, they didn't seem to have noticed Seiyaryu and Wingweaver yet, but that didn't change the fact that they'd still have a difficult time trying to get out in one piece.  It didn't help that one of Seth's Blue-Eyes was hanging around in the background, obviously there to make sure neither Duel Monster escaped in one piece.  The two quickly backed away from the hole, pressing their backs to the wall on either side.

"Well then, what now?" Seiyaryu asked.

Wingweaver glared at her. "You're the one that got us into this.  Got any brilliant ideas on how to get us out?"

"Actually, yes…" Seiyaryu seemed to be deep in thought for a while, then nodded decisively. "Okay.  It seems like most of the flying monsters are concentrated around this area, right?  So I suggest we go down a few levels and exit from another direction.  Blow another hole or two in the wall and get the heck out of here before they realize what's going on."

"Somehow, I don't think Seth's that dumb…"

"Hey, do you have any better ideas?" the dragon shot back. "Well, other than exiting out the front gate disguised as humanoid monsters, which I don't think will work, because the last time I checked, I probably won't even FIT in the stupid entry hall!"

"How would you know?" Wingweaver queried, curious.

"…let's just say the measurements of the stupid place say it would be a tight fit," Seiyaryu responded, ruffling her wings and pausing when they met slight resistance.  She paused, rolling one of them until the globe fell from her back and hit the ground with a soft thunk.  She bent to pick it up and inspected it. "Hey, I almost forgot we had this.  Do you think this'll explode if I throw it at them?"

"No, but it'll shatter into a thousand pieces, and from what we saw, I'd say it's too important for that," her friend answered. "Well, are we going to leave or not?"

Seiyaryu paused. "Hold on a minute." She fired a Razor Flare Blast at the ceiling above and slightly in front of the hole, causing it to cave in and block the opening. "Okay, now let's go."

Wingweaver blinked. "What'd you do that for?"

Seiyaryu shrugged. "That way, they won't be tempted to follow us in.  By the way, how do you think they get in and out in the first place?  I'm pretty sure some of those Whiptail Crows are as big as I am, not to mention the Blue-Eyes…"

"I dunno.  They probably have some way out through the upper levels.  But let's not worry about that now; they already knew a Seiyaryu and a Wingweaver came this way.  They're not dumb enough to not put two and two together if they see a Seiyaryu and a Wingweaver coming out."

"Really now…" Seiyaryu mused. "I wouldn't have put anything past their stupidity.  But oh well, I guess you're right."

"Like always?"

"…shut up."

A few minutes later and with the help of four new holes in Seth's floor, they were on the fifth floor from the top and ready to make their inconspicuous exit – or as inconspicuous as it ever got if you had two eight-foot tall monsters blasting a hole through a wall to escape.  Of course, nothing is ever that easy…

"Can we leave now?" Seiyaryu grumbled, apparently annoyed that Wingweaver had gotten to do all the blasting through the floors.  The fairy had insisted, saying that Seiyaryu's attacks would call too much attention to them, and knowing the dragon, she was right.

"All right," Wingweaver sighed. "So which way do you suggest we go?"

"This way!" Seiyaryu answered by promptly blasting through a wall in the opposite direction from the one they came in, revealing another room on the other side. "I don't think we should go _directly_ opposite from where we came from… that would be too obvious.  We came in from the east, how about we go out from northwest?  On the opposite side of the main entrance."

"Sure, why not?" Wingweaver agreed. "All that's left is to get there and hope we didn't attract _too_ much attention.  And try not to blast through the walls, will you?  If anyone sees that, we might get caught."

"That's nice," Seiyaryu replied, once again not paying attention. "C'mon." She led the way through the hole she had created and was about to make another "entryway" into the next room when a glare from Wingweaver stopped her in her tracks.  She sighed. "Aw, you're no fun…"

"I'm leading the way," the fairy replied, stepping around the dragon.  The duo exited through the door this time, Seiyaryu grumbling the whole time.  Wingweaver gave her a look that plainly told her to shut up.

"Why can't we do it my way?" Seiyaryu whined.

"Your way attracts too much attention," Wingweaver answered, not really listening.  As footsteps echoed through the hallway in front of them, she ducked into one of the side rooms and pulled the dragon with her.  As the footsteps died away, she peeked out, checking for any monsters.  Seeing nothing, she stepped out again.

"You know, it would be so much easier if you just listened to me and got rid of any monsters that appeared…"

"If I listened to you, we would've died a long time ago," Wingweaver said dryly.  Seiyaryu pouted, sulked, and decided not to say anything else for as long as she could, which amounted to a total of about thirty seconds for the crazy dragon.

"Are we there yet?"

"No.  Shut up."

"…are we there now?"

"Do you _want_ me to hit you?"

"I'll let you hit me if you let me blast through a few more walls!" the irrepressible Seiyaryu chirped.

Wingweaver sighed. "Just SHUT UP."

"Okay." They walked on.  A few minutes later…

"Are we-"

"Don't even go there," Wingweaver snapped.  The dragon rolled her eyes and stared at the ceiling, obviously bored with the complete lack of things to do.

"Y'know, I wonder how they're doing," Seiyaryu murmured after a while. "The rescue party, I mean.   Wouldn't it be a shame if we caused this nice little distraction, got ourselves chased around the castle, and escaped, only to find out that the others were caught?  Or died?  Or were tortured?  Or-"

"That's enough for the mental pictures," the fairy interrupted her. "I don't want to think about that."

"Fine." Seiyaryu was beginning to wonder just how big this place was.  Ten minutes of wandering, and they were nowhere close to where they wanted go. "You know, we would be there already if you'd only let me blast through the walls.  That would've led us in a straight line."

"I know.  But you're not going to do it."

Seiyaryu grumbled something under her breath and turned her eyes to the ceiling again, humming quietly.  Of course, as she wasn't looking straight ahead, she wasn't paying attention, and she didn't notice when Wingweaver stopped abruptly.  So, as can be expected, Seiyaryu ran right into her and sent the both of them tumbling loudly down a small flight of about ten steps.

"OW!  Darn stupid stairs!  Whoever put those there has no brains whatsoever!  Didn't it ever occur to Seth that those were a hazard?"

"Only for idiots, which there's an unfortunate lack of in Seth's army," Wingweaver muttered.  Hearing something, she slapped her hand over Seiyaryu's mouth and listened intently.

"I said, who's there?" a slightly croaky voice asked.  The eyes of both Duel Monsters widened, and Wingweaver's hand slipped off Seiyaryu's mouth.

"Oh, Ra," the dragon gasped. "We are _so_ dead."

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When escaping a highly guarded fortress in the Shadow Realm, it is always a good thing to have a plan.  Unfortunately, Ryou didn't think much farther beyond getting out of his jail cell, but that was okay, because now he had his magic, twenty-seven Duel Monsters cards, and a whole lot of anger at his disposal.

The first order of business?  Simple enough.  Get his deck back.  Sure, he had useful monsters now, but what he really needed were cards he was familiar with.  After that, he could try and let free any other prisoners that had been thrown into Seth's dungeons, and after that… well, he was sure he'd find a way to escape somehow.  That way probably involved trying to avoid all contact with monsters and such, which would be difficult, since the place was practically crawling with them… and from there, he could use Bakura's little compass spell to find the others, who were most probably here in the Shadow Realm, looking for him.  Then they could go to back to the real world together.  Simple enough, right?

Well, that's what he thought.  Problem number one came with step zero of his plan: the chains, which were STILL attached to his arms, made very, very loud clanking sounds when they hit the floor, and they were much too long for him to just hold his arms up the whole time.  He tried wrapping them around his arms, so they wouldn't hang and might provide some sort of protection, which led to problem number two; chains don't knot well.  So, with that rather obvious discovery, Ryou was forced to kind of tie two links together with a bit of magic.  Okay, that was done.  Now on to the next problem, which was by far the most annoying yet!

How exactly was he supposed to FIND his deck?  Ryou hadn't gotten much of a glimpse of the castle when he was being kidnapped, but from what he'd seen, the place was big enough for it to take a good few years to search the whole thing, even with the help of the few monsters he had with him.  At that point, he tried to think about where Seth would probably keep the cards.  There were a few main choices: with him, in his rooms, or in some room in the castle just for that purpose.  There was also the chance that they might've been destroyed to keep him from using them, but Ryou tried to ignore that possibility.

"Okay, so if I was Seth, where would I put the cards?" he muttered. "Well, the most obvious choice would be to burn them or keep them with me, and I'm really hoping it's not the former… and it's not like I can just walk up to Seth and demand my cards back.  Okay, so let's see… well, I can either go to his rooms and look there, hoping I don't run into anything on my way there, or I can search for a room in the castle where they're most likely keeping enemy monsters.  Oh joy, this'll be a blast.  Now, how to find them…" Well, they were his monsters, right?  Ryou vaguely recalled hearing Bakura saying something about other people not being able to use your cards unless they got them fairly, from a trade, a lost bet or duel, or if you just gave them your cards.  Being reasonably certain that having his deck stolen didn't count as them being fairly acquired, Ryou at least had the reassurance of knowing that his cards weren't working for Seth.  Well, that at least was a good thing… but that brought him back to the problem of how to find them.

Having no idea at all of where to start looking for his cards, Ryou decided to put step two aside for the moment and concentrate on getting others free.  Hopefully, he'd be able to get some help in finding his cards, along with some extra backup from anyone that didn't particularly like Seth… so, remembering that the flights of stairs that led upward were to his left, he turned right and headed for the lower levels.  After considering it for a moment, he also summoned back the Hinotama Soul and a Wretched Ghost of the Attic and sacrificed them for a Ryu-Ran, a pyro-dragon with 2200 attack.  No sense in being caught off-guard and having an alarm raised, right?

Well, that's what Ryou told himself as the two of them snuck down the halls as best they could.  Of course, him not being the expert tomb robber that Bakura was and having a huge dragon that was still halfway in its shell didn't help the situation any.  Following an instinct that told him to go right, he turned in that direction, still lost in his thoughts, but not too distracted to miss the fact that he had yet to find any prisoners – at least, any living.  The remains of skeletons, both human and Duel Monster, were strewn across the floor of more than one of the cells.  In a few of the ones which he stumbled across, he was unlucky enough to come across some that were apparently more recent, as they consisted of more than just bone.  Being a decent person, as well as having a slightly restless fire monster with him, Ryou decided that, if he couldn't give them a proper burial, he might as well dispose of the… remains… of the people as best he could.  It was while he was waiting for the Ryu-Ran to finish that he first took a good look at his surroundings and blinked as he realized that one, he had no idea where he was going, two, he was most definitely lost, and three, the corridor he was in took a sharp turn to the left in a few feet.  He crept forward cautiously, peering around the corner and trying to make as little noise as possible.  The door at the end of the hallway was barred and locked, and so most probably didn't lead to the next flight of stairs.  In fact, it was this door that held his attention: something in it seemed to be calling quietly to him.  Ryou blinked and was about to take a step forward when he realized that it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do in this situation: there were two red dragons curled up around the door.  He reflexively ducked back behind the corner, then peeked around as soon as he didn't hear a roar that announced his presence to the entire Shadow Realm.  Taking a closer look, he noticed that both dragons were asleep on guard duty, and he almost laughed.  Almost.  By this time, the Ryu-Ran had finished its work and crept up beside him.

"Well then, two Duel Monsters against one human and one monster," the white-haired boy whispered almost unconsciously to his companion.  A stray strand of white hair fell into his eyes, and Ryou brushed it away irritably.  As soon as he got out of this place, he was definitely going to see someone about having his hair cut.  At least until this whole mess with Seth was over.

"Actually, it's only one monster, a Twin-Headed Fire Dragon.  It has the same attack as me, but it's only level six," the Ryu-Ran surprised him by answering.  Ryou jumped about three feet into the air before giving his monster a glare that would've made even Bakura cringe. "What?  Didn't you know I could talk?" the monster asked in a slightly surprised voice.

Ryou shook his head, trying to clear it, and stored away his questions for later. "Um… actually, no.  So what do you think we should do?"

"Got any power-ups or power-downs?" the dragon asked casually. "That's the easy way around it.  Unless you want to try a combined attack, me and another monster.  That's always fun." Ryou stared at him blankly, and Ryu-Ran sighed. "You don't know about combined attacks?  Well, you sure have a lot to learn.  Okay, so what about that power booster?"

"Hm…" Ryou pulled out the cards and searched through them. "How about this one?  Dragon Treasure!" As the glowing green orb was absorbed into Ryu-Ran's body, the monster grinned.

"All right then…" He walked out into the hallway, right in front of the Twin-Headed Fire Dragon, which had started to wake up when the green light filtered into its vision.  One blast later, all opposition was completely destroyed, including the door.  Ryou blinked.

"Well… that's one way to get in.  Thanks." The two walked in, slipping through the remains of the doorframe and taking a good look around – or as good a look as you can take when the room's pitch-black.

"You'd think they'd have an automatic light or something," Ryu-Ran commented. "As it is, I guess it's up to me." He flew up to the ceiling, only stopping when his head hit it rather hard.  Ryou rolled his eyes as a loud yelp echoed around the room.  A moment later, the room was dimly lit, and he peered upward to see the dragon sitting on a chandelier on the top.

"Well, whaddya know, they do seem to have lighting.  It just isn't working," Ryu-Ran called down. "Well?  Are you going to look for your cards or what?"

Ryou nodded slightly and stepped into the middle of the room, glancing around.  He noticed a pedestal-type thing on the far side of the room, and stepped towards it cautiously, ready for a trap of some sort to activate.  When he reached the platform, he stepped onto it and headed towards the solid black block in the middle of it.  On the middle was a stack of cards, locked into something like a cage, albeit a cage made of Shadow Magic.  The top card in the deck was clearly recognizable, even in the not-so-great lighting that the room had to offer: Dark Necrophia.

"So those are yours?" Ryu-Ran asked, flying down from his perch to join Ryou. "Well, looks like you got here just in time.  Seems like Seth was going to perform the spell to destroy them a couple hours from now."

"…the spell?"

Ryu-Ran glanced at him. "Yeah.  To destroy more than just the cards, but also the monsters that they're connected to in the Shadow Realm."

Ryou turned to face the dragon, leaning against the pedestal and trying his best not to touch the cage. "What do you mean?"

Ryu-Ran sweatdropped. "You mean you didn't know?  All cards – no wait, I should say the magic, traps, and monsters that the cards summon – come from the Shadow Realm.  You just use the cards to call them wherever you want.  Every card has a counterpart in the Shadow Realm, but not all the… um, beings… in the Realm have a card that goes with it.  You got it?  So, some of the monsters that are found here don't have a card that goes with them, though in your world, they might be printing a card for that _species_ of monster.  In some cases, even whole species haven't been 'invented' for the game yet."

Ryou blinked slowly. "I think I get it.  So, what're examples of those?"

Ryu-Ran suddenly turned grave. "Well, there're actually a lot of them, but I think the best one would be the Egyptian god cards, Ra, Osiris, and Obelisk.  Those three have joint rule of the Shadow Realm, and if anyone were to get hold of one of their cards, then utter chaos would break out, both in your world and ours.  But that's beside the point.  Are you going to get your cards or not?"

"Oh yeah…" Ryou kneeled down so his shoulders were level with the block. "I don't suppose you know how to get rid of this cage?"

"Hey, I don't know everything," the dragon complained. "It's up to you to get rid of it.  But since they were 'calling' you here, you might be able to use that to your advantage to break the spell."

"Really now…" Ryou closed his eyes and put his hands on either side of the cage, concentrating on the thin line of magic in the back of his mind that had been leading him in this direction.  As soon as he found it, he "grabbed" it mentally, pulling on it and strengthening it as much as he could.  He met resistance from the cage, but tried his best to ignore it, instead pouring his magic and energy into that one line.  He felt it grow thicker, and as it did, he could feel the resistance weakening… putting all his hopes into one last try, he threw everything he had left into the line and yanked as hard as he possibly could.

The line went taut for a few agonizing seconds before it suddenly went slack again.  For a moment, Ryou was afraid that it had broken.  He was almost afraid to open his eyes, but then he heard Ryu-Ran's whoop from beside him and what felt strangely like splinters of ice flying past his face and hands…

Reluctantly, Ryou looked at where the bars had been… and felt a surge of joy fly through him as he realized that the cage had been broken, with splinters of dark Shadow Magic lying around, quietly flickering out of existence as proof of what exactly had happened to the resistance he'd felt before.  Triumphant, he reached out and grabbed the cards, smiling slightly as a little flick appeared in his mind and something clicked into place, knowing that his deck was welcoming him again, having recognized the touch of its master. "It's good to see you again, too," he whispered quietly, pocketing it and standing up.

"If I may interrupt this touching reunion, we should probably get out of here," Ryu-Ran hissed to Ryou, glancing around warily. "That cage was probably made out of Seth's magic.  Breaking it would have alerted him that we're here."

"Now you tell me," Ryou grumbled. "C'mon.  Let's go." The pair snuck out of the room and back the way they had come – at least until they reached the first intersection.  At that point, the two glanced at each other and sweatdropped.  Ryu-Ran was the one who voiced the problem.

"I don't suppose you know which way we came from?"

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A few miles from where Seth's castle stood, a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed priest smiled self-contentedly, a half-lidded smile that showed that someone had just set the next stage of one of his plans into motion. "So they've started."

Zake glanced up from where he was lounging, on a rock that was a good hundred feet from where the rebels were gathered and out of their line of sight. "What's started?"

Seth sighed, closed his eyes, and shook his head in an exasperated manner. "That boy.  The white-haired child.  He's escaped and has his deck back.  I should've known those idiots wouldn't have been able to keep the Pharaoh and his friends out of the castle."

"Should we send orders to try and capture them?"

"Don't bother," Seth said. "There's no way any of those monsters will be able to stop Pharaoh and his companions when they really put their mind to something.  And besides, you wouldn't want to miss the upcoming battle, would you?  And besides, everything's going to plan.  I'm a man of honor; if Yami's going down, he's going down by my own hands." Off to the side, Kaiba rolled his eyes at this statement.

Seth took a quick look at the teenager from where he was standing. "Why so quiet, Seto?  I thought for sure you'd have something to say about all this, being the great corporate genius that you are."

Kaiba just glared at him. "Why would I have anything to say about your pathetic dreams to conquer the world?  Sorry, old man, but your techniques are five thousand years outdated.  They won't work in this day and age."

Seth just chuckled softly. "We'll see about that, won't we, Seto?" He received no answer.  Smiling slightly, the priest shook his head before addressing Zake. "Tell those monsters to hurry up and catch the two that were destroying my castle.  If nothing else, we can get some of the leaders of the rebels." The boy nodded and left.  Seth turned back to Kaiba. "Oh, and by the way…" He trailed off.

Kaiba glanced up, giving him an indifferent look. "What do you want?"

The former high priest just smirked. "If you're hoping they'll rescue your little brother, don't count on it.  You think they care about him?  You think they care about _you_?  Even if they did try, there's no way they'll be able to free him.  Come to think of it… there's no way you can either, Seto.  You're going to work with me or watch little Mokuba die a slow and painful death."

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"Well then, now that we're FINALLY here… I don't suppose anyone remembers how to get to the stairs to the next level?" Bakura asked casually.

Chaos Mage shrugged. "It's fairly easy, if you compare it to the last two levels."

"Anything's 'fairly easy' when you compare it to those floors," Malik grumbled quietly.  Bakura and Marik nodded agreement.

"Well, here, it's pretty much just a matter of going straight until you hit the stairs," Chaos Mage continued, ignoring Malik's comment. "The real problem will be finding the right cell – from the main corridor between flights of stairs, there're at least twenty corridors branching off, and more coming off of those, and so on and so forth.  Even if we did find the right cell, there's still the matter of finding it back to the stairs."

"We really should've brought markers of some sort," Yami murmured. "Oh well, I guess it can't be helped now.  And I don't think it'll be as easy as just standing around yelling for Ryou?"

"Not unless you want to attract the attention of the whole stupid castle, no."

"Okay then," Bakura said, suddenly a lot more cheerful now that the end was in sight. "Supposing Seth hasn't remodeled this floor or the others like he did to the last two, this'll be a pretty straight-forward task.  So, remember, we have a three-hour time limit to search each of our own floors, then we meet back on the second dungeon floor.  If we haven't found Ryou by then, we go search the last one – and it's kinda a given that we release anyone else we happen to find, unless they're a raving idiot or likely to get us caught."

"In other words, if you were locked down here, Bakura, you wouldn't want us to rescue you?"

"Shut up, Marik."

"Anyway," Gemini Elf cut in, "I don't know about you guys, but Marik and I have to go down three levels before we reach the one we're searching, so if you don't mind, we should get going now." The rest of the group nodded, and Yugi and Malik split off to begin searching the level they were on at the moment.  Yami and Dark Magician Girl headed for the next floor down, while Chaos Mage and Bakura took the third floor and Gemini Elf and Marik got the fourth.  Of course, each group had their own share of the fun, but let's concentrate on the two mortals first…

The first turn was a left, then another left, a fork, where Yugi chose the left pathway, and then another left… Malik blinked and put that together in his head. "Um… hey Yugi.  If we took four lefts, shouldn't we have gone in a circle and ended up back where we started?"

Yugi stopped walking for a moment to think that over. "Let's see… hey, you're right.  Of course, that's supposing that we went the same distance each time before we hit another turn…"

"So supposing we didn't, where would that leave us?" The two stood blinking at each other for a moment before they sighed.

"That would leave us totally lost," Yugi concluded.  Malik nodded his agreement. "So then, what do we do now?"

Malik pondered that for a moment, then grinned. "Get even more lost?"

Yugi just stared at him.  The blond Egyptian shrugged. "Hey, look at it this way.  We're already lost, so we have two choices: try to find our way back, or just keep going.  Either way, we're probably going to end up back where we started – either that, or this is one of those places where it's an endless maze and we'll be wandering here for eternity."

"That's a nice thought," Yugi muttered dryly. "But I agree, might as well keep going.  If this place is such a maze, though, I wonder how they feed the prisoners?"

"Maybe they don't." Malik answered, totally serious.  He blinked at the look Yugi was giving him. "What?  Have _you_ seen any live captives since we got here?"

"No, but I don't really want to think about that," the shorter boy answered.  The path they were in turned suddenly – right this time, not another left.  And at the end of the corridor…

"Hey look!  It's a door!"

"You know, normally I wouldn't get so excited over a door, but hey, it's the first interesting thing I've seen so far…" Malik said. "So whaddya say we go check out what's in it?"

Yugi shrugged. "Sounds like a good idea.  Besides, I don't think we're likely to find anything here anyway.  If Ryou were on this floor, I think we would've found him by now.  After all, it's been about an hour since we started, right?" He was about to grab the handle and yank open the door when a hand on his arm stopped him.  He glanced at Malik. "What?"

"I don't suppose this is like the first door we saw?  The one that had a spell on it?" Malik asked him.

"Well… there's only one way to find out…" Grabbing a handy rock, Yugi flicked it at the handle.  When no alarms went off and the rock bounced off, still in one piece, the teenager shrugged. "Seems okay to me." He grabbed the handle, noticing that Malik stayed a good five feet behind him, and rolled his eyes. "Malik…"

"Hey, if something happens, I'm _not_ coming any closer to that door!" the boy retorted.

"Fine, fine…" Yugi pulled it open. "See?  Nothing!  Nothing at all!" he said, half to himself to assuage his nerves. "There's no one in there, either, I don't think…"

"And that is where you're wrong," a mildly amused baritone voice told him from inside the room.  At that point, both teenagers jumped about ten feet into the air, Yugi's hand immediately going to his deck and Malik's to the knife that he'd had since they arrived in the Shadow Realm.

"Who's there?" Malik yelled into the torch-lit room, sounding a lot braver than he felt at the moment.

"Only me." A Maha Vailo stepped out of the shadows into the doorway, where the two boys could clearly see him.  He raised an eyebrow at the looks on their faces. "Come on in, I won't harm you."

"But if you're in here, then doesn't that mean you're working for Seth?" Yugi asked warily.

The spellcaster chuckled. "That's what he thinks, and I must say, I don't try to convince him otherwise.  As for me, I'm just a mere scholar that met him one day and decided that I couldn't let this little collection of documents go to waste."

"Okay…" Malik said slowly, wondering where exactly the Maha Vailo had picked up a British accent. "Then do you mind telling us where we are?"

The monster swept his arm, taking in the expanse the room, and as he did so, the torches flickered suddenly, brightening the room and exposing it in all its glory. "Welcome to the Library of Forbidden Knowledge."

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One floor below them, Yami and Dark Magician Girl were having no more luck than Yugi and Malik at finding Ryou.  Luckily for them, however, between the two of them, they had a fairly good sense of direction and enough brains to find a way to mark the path that they had taken.  Of course, that didn't mean that they weren't still going in circles…

Yami sighed in frustration as they hit another fork and he spotted one of the arrows on the floor, marking that they'd already taken this path and had somehow ended up backtracking. "Sometimes I wonder if even Seth can find his way around down here."

Dark Magician Girl shrugged. "Well, judging from what I've seen, the prisoners that are thrown in the back corridors are the ones he never wants to see or hear from again – and judging from the number of skeletons, that's a lot."

Yami gave her an annoyed look. "Thank you for that little bit of information.  Do you think he threw Ryou in one of these hallways?"

"I really, really hope not…" she said in reply. "But it's only been, what, maybe a day or two since you arrived in the Shadow Realm?  That's not long enough for anyone to starve to death, and from what you've told me, this kid has enough magical training to last here unprotected for quite a while, even without the barriers Seth has around this place."

"Yes, but you're forgetting the time fluctuations here…"

"Time fluctuations?" Dark Magician Girl looked at him oddly. "I've never heard about those.  But then again, I've never been to the real world, since I don't have a duelist… or at least, not one that knows enough magic to bring me there."

Yami pondered his explanation for a bit before he answered. "Well, between the real world and here, there's a slight problem with time.  It's nothing continuous, like an hour there would be equal to a day here.  It's more like, you stay five minutes in the Shadow Realm, and sometimes, when you go back, a week's passed, and during other times, it's like you never left.  Time's weird that way; it's impossible to predict how much has changed between there and here.  The royal scholars were always trying to find patterns between the realms, or at least create a spell of some sort that told you how much time had passed in the other realm, but they never did succeed." Yami shrugged. "For all we know, when we go back, Yugi, Ryou, and Malik would've been missing for months, or we might end up back at the school with the police about to question us."

"Ah.  That's gotta be annoying."

"Believe me, it is." Finding a corridor that didn't have any arrow on it, or at least any that they could see, Yami and Dark Magician Girl walked down it in silence for a few minutes.  Going straight, like the others, they eventually reached a door – or in this case, a pair of ten-foot-tall big, black doors that looked to have been carved out of some sort of black stone, obsidian maybe, and embellished delicately with silver hieroglyphics.  They walked up to the doors and stopped about a foot away, studying the writing and the polished bronze handles that gleamed in the dimly lit dungeon.

After a minute of this silent studying, Dark Magician Girl broke the silence. "What does it say?"

Yami didn't answer for a moment, running his finger over the silver emboss in the door. "It's a shrine of some sort.  An altar."

"What kind?" Yami was silent.  He dropped his finger and knelt to study the etchings closer. "…Pharaoh?"

Yami looked up from his work, grinning a bit sheepishly. "Well, to tell you the truth, I can't pick up much more than that." Dark Magician Girl sweatdropped. "What?  It's been five thousand years since I saw any glyphs at all, so of course I'd forget a few things.  And besides, from what I can decipher, it's mostly about religion.  I let the priests deal with that stuff; mine was more about the annual harvest, the flooding of the Nile, the complaints of the people, and so on and so forth."

"Um…" Dark Magician Girl hesitated. "Is it, by any chance, a sacrificial altar?"

"From what I can tell, no," Yami answered. "Why?"

The monster gave him a slightly disbelieving look. "It's a religious thing, located in a dungeon full of skeletons.  I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any other living thing since we got down here, not even a Bone Mouse.  Don't you kind of wonder what happened to the rest of the people and monsters he locked up for five millennia?"

Yami sweatdropped. "Not really, but thanks for the mental image.  So are we going in or not?"

"Depends.  Do you think it's dangerous?"

Yami hesitated for a moment, once again studying the hieroglyphics. "From what I can tell, no.  Let's see what's inside." Reaching out, he yanked both of the bronze handles, and the double doors swung outward silently to reveal a large room, with a chapel-like ceiling.  The whole room was dimly lit, with torches spaced at regular intervals across the walls and along a path that led straight to the altar in the middle of the room.  Carved into the stone walls were hieroglyphs and all sorts of pictures, some depicting Duel Monsters, and others various people.  Ignoring the walls for now, Yami walked straight up to the altar and knelt down for a second, reading what was written it. "It's a shrine.  To Set."

"Well, duh.  Seth's a priest of Set, of course he'd have a shrine somewhere here," Dark Magician Girl said sarcastically, glancing around nervously. "Can we go now?  This place is creeping me out."

"Not quite yet." Yami stood up and walked to the wall on the far side of the room, studying the writing there and taking a closer look at the pictures. "Interesting…"

"What is it?"

"Come here." DMG obeyed warily.  Yami grabbed a torch and brought it over to the section he was reading. "Look at this."

"What does it say?"

"It's a prophecy of some sort, but that's not what's important." Yami dismissed it quickly. "What I want you to look at is the subject of the prophecy – the picture down here."

"Hm?" Dark Magician Girl grabbed the torch and knelt down to study it, only to almost drop the light as she gasped. "Why, it's-"

"Yes.  A prophecy regarding Seth and me."

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The third basement floor.  Chaos Mage and Bakura were, like the others, wandering around in aimless circles – or at least, that's what they were doing until they came upon an interesting discovery.

Bakura peered into another hallway, blinking in annoyance as he found that he couldn't see much more than ten feet ahead of him.  But still… "Hey, Chaos Mage, is it just me, or is there a _hole_ in the bars of that cell?"

"Huh?  Where?" Turning into that corridor, the two walked until they came to the cell in question, where it seemed like the bars had been melted to make a human-sized hole, along with a puddle of molten metal on the floor. "Well, that's interesting."

"And fairly recent, too," Bakura muttered, looking at the metal. "From what I can tell, this was melted not-so-long ago.  Whoever did it is probably still in the castle – in the dungeons, too, if they're as lost as we are."

"So do you think we've found your friend?" Chaos Mage asked.

"Well…" Bakura was about to say he wasn't sure when he saw something sparkle in the corner of his eye. "What's that?" He walked over to the cell across from the one they were at, and spotted shards of glass lying all over the floor.  A light blue spark caught his eye again, and he bent down to examine it, carefully picking up a bit of the glass. "Pure crystal.  The only thing that can hold magic captive…"

"And it's broken," Chaos Mage noted. "Probably held the magic of the person who was in that cell."

"You know, if you're right, then I think we really have found Ryou.  The magical residue left on here fits his magical aura…" Bakura touched the spark, and it flashed quickly before a slight shock ran up his arm. "Yes, it's definitely Ryou's."

"Well, what now?"

"I'm not sure… HEY RYOU!  CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Chaos Mage sweatdropped, and Bakura glanced at her. "What?  Do you have any better ideas?  Besides, I think most of the castle's outside, trying to deal with Wingweaver and Seiyaryu.  Might as well try."

"Or…" Chaos Mage said slowly. "We could follow the tracks." She pointed farther down the corridor, where a bunch of ashes were clearly visible, inside one of the cells.

Bakura walked down to inspect them and nodded at what he saw. "Seems like these are recent, too.  So we just follow the tracks that Ryou and some fire monster or another made and hope we find him?"

"Yeah.  Lucky for us that your reincarnation's not too good with subtlety."

Bakura shot her a glare. "I know it's lucky, but you don't have to make it sound like a bad thing."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." They walked in silence for a few minutes, occasionally turning when they came upon another pile of ash or backtracking when they hit a dead end. "It seems like this Ryou has a really bad sense of direction."

"Don't tell me you wouldn't be going in circles, too."

"I'd try not to…" Chaos Mage paused. "Do you know how much time we have before we're supposed to go meet everyone else?"

"Um… I think it's only been about half an hour, actually.  What do you have in mind?"

The magician shrugged. "Well, if we have time after we find your friend, we can head down to the last dungeon floor and search down there.  Maybe we can free that kid who's stuck in the wall…"

"I highly doubt it, but if we have time, then it's worth a try," Bakura said. "But first, we need to find Ryou." The duo turned right again, only to find themselves back at a path they'd already taken.

Chaos Mage sighed. "Okay, we've been here and here, so let's try here!" They turned down another path and walked on.  It wasn't long, however, before Bakura threw out his arm to stop her.

"Did you hear that?" Bakura asked tersely. "I could've sworn I heard voices coming from down there."

Chaos Mage frowned. "No, I don't think I did…" Bakura glared at her. "What?  So sue me!  Not all of us have your tomb robber hearing!"

"Shh.  Let's try and get closer."

The two snuck forward a bit, Bakura mercifully sparing Chaos Mage his criticism about her "stealth." As they got closer, the voices became clearer, until the two could finally hear what was being said.

"…are we going to do now?"

"I don't know.  Just wander around and hope we find our way?" the second voice said.  Bakura's eyes widened until they were as big as saucers.  Before Chaos Mage could say anything, the King of Thieves had left the cell they'd been hiding in and was dashing towards the source of the two voices.

"RYOU!" 

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One floor below the elated tomb robber and his friends, Marik and Gemini Elf were also wandering around aimlessly, totally unaware that, one floor above them, Ryou had been found.

"So, where to next?" Gemini Elf asked as they left a room with a battered wooden door that was barred with iron.  She was forcibly cheerful after their last discovery.

"I have no idea, but it better not be another torture chamber," Marik grumbled, trying to hide his disgust. "I never knew before now how truly sadistic Seth could get."

Gemini Elf shrugged half-heartedly. "Look at it this way – _you_ didn't have to spend the last five thousand years locked in the same Realm as him."

"What's worse, that or living in the same country for sixteen years?"

"Hmm… good point." Gemini Elf thought for a moment, then smiled. "How about this – instead of anyone having to coexist in the same ANYTHING as that guy, we create a whole different realm-slash-universe and throw him in there?"

Marik matched her grin with one of his own. "Ooh, good idea.  I'll have to suggest that to the Pharaoh." The two arrived back at the main corridor that connected both flights of stairs and turned to each other. "Well then, my dear elf, where to next?" He bowed and took in the hallway with a sweep of his hand.

Gemini Elf stared thoughtfully around. "Well, I think it's safe to say we've explored everything on this side of the dungeons.  Let's go onto the other side and see if we can find anything interesting."

"By 'interesting,' I hope you don't mean another torture chamber…"

Gemini Elf let out a long-suffering sigh. "I'm serious, how many does that guy need?  We must've found at least twenty by now…"

"You know, the next time we find a door, I'm making _you_ open it," Marik grumbled. "I've seen enough to keep my nightmares happy for the next few weeks, thank you very much."

She sent him a sideways grin. "What, the great Marik still has nightmares?  And he's afraid of lil' old Seth's torture chambers, no less!"

"Shut up or I'll be forced to throw you in the same dimension as Seth.  Then I'll lock it and throw away the key."

"I'm so scared," Gemini Elf shot back sarcastically.  Their bickering was soon cut short, however, when they reached – guess what?  Another door!

"You're opening it this time," Marik reminded her.

Gemini Elf was too busy staring thoughtfully at the door to answer. "Is it just me, or does this door seem different from the last fifty or so?"

Marik spared only a glance at it before answering. "Yeah.  It's on the other side."

"That's not what I meant… the last few looked like they were all made of rotting wood, and were barred by iron.  This one… well, just look at it." Unlike the last few, this one seemed out of place in the dungeons; it was pure white and looked to have been made out of marble, with gold flourishes and spirals around the edges.

"Hm… you're right.  Maybe it's a torture chamber for his more important prisoners?" Marik asked cynically.

"Somehow, I don't think it's a torture chamber…"

"Whatever.  You're still opening it." Marik stood, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for her to open the door.  As much as he hated to admit it, Gemini Elf was right; he got a completely different feeling from this door, and he was just as eager as her to see what lay behind it.

Reaching out, the monster gave the door a light tap, and it swung inward to admit them.  Inside, it was all white, just like the door; Marik was momentarily blinded by the dazzling brightness of it all.  Once his vision cleared, he noted that it most definitely didn't belong in a dungeon; crystal chandeliers that hung from a high ceiling reflected and cast off light so bright that it was completely out of place in the dark, dreary Shadow Realm.  Other than that, however, the room was deceptively simple: it was completely circular, and in the middle was a small, raised platform about three feet higher than the floor, with steps leading up to it on four sides.  There was nothing else to be seen.

"Bright, flashy, and absolutely nothing of interest in it," Marik remarked, stepping forward. "Wouldn't you expect that of Seth?" Gemini Elf didn't answer, just walked forward until she was out of the little alcove that housed the door.  As soon as she left the mini-hallway, something happened in the middle of the platform.

Marik blinked as a big, bronze circle materialized out of thin air, positioned itself vertically, and began spinning so that the space it contained was something like a sphere.  The air inside the sphere glowed for a moment, before slowly flashing blue, green, yellow, orange, red, purple, and fading back to blue, where it started the cycle over again. "Whoa…"

"I don't suppose you know what this is?" Gemini Elf asked casually, like this was something that appeared everyday.  Malik shook his head to clear it before he stepped up beside her, standing in front of the stairs that were directly in front of the door.

"I haven't seen one before, but I'm pretty sure what it is," he murmured. "An inter-realm portal, of a sort.  This must be how Seth gets his monsters and whatever else he needs between the real world and the Shadow Realm.  Of course… he can't call them into existence in our world without their cards, and there's way too many monsters in his army for him to have cards of them all."

Gemini Elf was smiling slightly. "Interesting.  Well, we can use this to our advantage."

Marik sent her a curious look. "What, so we're not going to destroy it?"

"No… see, this is the easy way for us to appear in the real world if Seth starts causing more trouble there," she explained. "Plus, I'm pretty sure there might be a way to… no, never mind.  It probably won't work.  I'll have to talk to the Pharaoh, see what he says."

"Okay… whatever you say." Marik shook himself out of it, grabbed Gemini Elf, and pulled her back to the door. "C'mon.  We're looking for Ryou, remember?  We can find out more about it later."

"Sure, but don't you realize that this just caused a few more problems for you?" Gemini Elf asked.

Marik looked completely puzzled. "What?"

"Every portal, every pathway has two ends.  Without them, someone who entered through one end would be lost forever.  So…"

"If there's one opening here, there must be another in the real world," Marik said softly. "We have to find that portal… and then what?"

Gemini Elf smiled grimly. "Then you destroy that side of the portal.  And when it's destroyed, then it causes problems for Seth, because he can no longer send most of his army to the real world."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I finished the next chapter!  I'm so proud of myself! *dances around* Be happy, because I spent half of spring break so far writing fanfics!  Well… the half where I wasn't _reading_ fics or sleeping… *sweatdrops* Ya, once again, sorry it took so long.  But hey, it's a lot longer than usual again, and the next chapter will probably be, too, 'cuz I'm having so much fun with Seth's castle. ^^; C'mon, everyone's so split up it takes up more space, and there's lots and lots to do here!

Um… yeah.  Sorry for the cliffhanger-ish things on some parts.  I was really planning on continuing those parts in another part of this chapter, but it ended up being so looong… so those are in the next chapter.  By the way… have you realized, that at this point, most everyone's in pairs?  It's Tristan and Joey, Ryou and Ryu-Ran, Bakura and Chaos Mage, Seiyaryu and Wingweaver, Yugi and Malik, Yami and Dark Magician Girl, Gemini Elf and Marik, and Seth, Zake, and Kaiba, which isn't a pair, but oh well. *sweatdrops again* I really didn't notice the "duos" when I wrote this, but that's how it ended up… besides, 02 is always better than 01, right HK? *nudgenudgegrin* Go Duo!  And if you didn't understand that, don't worry… it's just me being an obsessive fangirl again.

Okay!  Now that I've taken up enough space with author's notes to fill up my twenty-page goal (Tahoma, size twelve font), I can go on to the important stuff!  As usual, review, review, tell me what you liked, what you didn't, any questions you have, etc.  You can flame if you want, it's just it'll be used to make pocky s'mores for the reviewers, Anime Club-style!

Oh yes, I didn't explain the pocky s'mores.  Well, we had Multicultural Fair on Friday, where all the clubs set up a booth and sell stuff during lunchtime, which is extended to an hour and fifteen minutes for the event.  Well, Anime Club sold Japanese stuff as a fundraising thing, as well as bringing DDR (squee!  DDR!  Of course, the bell rang RIGHT when it was my turn, and I didn't get to play… -_-;), and I bought two boxes of pocky!  ^^; Okay, pocky s'mores… part of what they were selling was pocky with marshmallows on the end, which they flamed for a bit with who-knows-what (I wasn't really watching), and then it was a pocky s'more!  So, if you want a virtual pocky s'more (or two… or three… or a couple hundred… ^o^), REVIEW!


	11. And the Duos' Troubles Continue

Pocky s'mores go to hobbit13, Hikage Kitsune, lilmatchgirl, and ShadowFire2.  Y'know, something I forgot to say last chapter was that I thought up a sequel when I wrote this one part… weird, cuz I thought this would be a story with a definite ending that wouldn't have any room for a sequel… like I said, weird.  And I took some liberties with Joey's deck in this chapter.  So sue me.  Wait, on second thought, don't.

Oh yeah, updates will be weird because I have major writer's block and only very vague ideas as to where to go after this chapter. (shrugs) Ne, I'm better at figuring out the beginning and very end of stories than the middle… oh, but now that I'm done with AP testing (Germanoslavia! Hahaha), I can hopefully work on this more.

Okay, for anyone who read my Gundam Wing CYOA (_Mission Complete_), ff.net deleted it.  I put it on my website, tho, the link for which is on my bio.  Sorry, apparently ff.net doesn't let me do slashes anymore. --; Neither does it let me do my little "at" symbols for pagebreaks or the squiggly lines at the end of each chapter, OR my asterisks for actions.  Annoying.

Disclaimer: All I own is Seiyaryu.  Well, actually, I don't even own _her_.  I own _a_ Seiyaryu, yes, I own her personality, yes, what I don't own is the rights to her.  Wait a minute, Seiyaryu's a Duel Monster from Yu-Gi-Oh!, right?  And if I don't own the rights to her, then I also don't own the rights to YGO, ne?  Wow, my own logic surprises me sometimes… oh wait, I forgot Zake, I own him too.  He's completely my own creation, but you can have him if you want.  He's actually quite a bishie.  Now let's see… if only I could find those sketches I did of him…

Oh yes, one new note. [blah] is telepathic communication.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Ten

…And the Duos' Troubles Continue

Wingweaver glanced around frantically for some sort of cover, or a handy hallway/door that they could slip into and hide in without being noticed.  Having no such luck, she half-turned to see if they could go back the way they came, and saw Seiyaryu attempting to hide behind her.  Even with the situation as serious as it was, Wingweaver couldn't help but be slightly amused. "What are you doing?" she asked the larger monster.

Seiyaryu glanced up embarrassedly. "Um, trying to hide?"

Wingweaver raised an eyebrow. "You're bigger than me."

"Yeah, but you have higher attack power!" the dragon whined.  Wingweaver rolled her eyes, just as an Alligator's Sword turned the corner, and all three Duel Monsters froze.

Seth's monster was the first to speak. "What are you two doing, standing around the castle when Master Seth demanded us to be ready to fight?" he said, scowling and obviously having yet to realize that these two were intruders.

"We're searching around the castle, making sure there aren't any cowards hiding around," Wingweaver answered smoothly, ignoring Seiyaryu, who was repeatedly poking her in the back.

The reptile monster gave them both a strange look. "Well, you'd better hurry it up.  Everyone else'll get suspicious."

"We will, don't worry," said Wingweaver.  Seiyaryu was still poking her, and annoyed, she hissed, "What?"

"Wing!  That's one of Seth's generals!" the dragon whispered back frantically.

Wingweaver almost swung around before she could stop herself. "What did you say?" she asked a little too loudly, then thought of something else. "How did you know that?"

Seiyaryu waved a claw around aimlessly. "I stole the list from you a while back when you weren't looking," she shrugged. "But what should we do?"

Before the fairy could answer, Alligator's Sword interrupted. "What are you two whispering about back there?"

Seiyaryu threw him a nervous look. "Oh, um, er, you know, strategy stuff.  Can't have anyone else overhearing, now can we?  There's a good chance someone could've snuck into the castle while everyone else was distracted-OW!" The dragon shut up quickly when Wingweaver kicked her hard.

Alligator's Sword, however, didn't seem to have noticed. "You know, I never thought of that," he pondered. "Maybe someone _should_ be searching for intruders.  Hey!  I know!  It might be the Pharaoh and his pals, come to look for their friend!  We should check the dungeons!"

"Oh yes!  Great idea!" Seiyaryu said brightly, with a false smile.  As soon as the reptile had turned away, Wingweaver shot her a withering glare that had her cowering.

"Now look what you've done!" she grumbled as they followed the Reptile general. "Now we have to figure out a way to stop him from getting to the dungeons-"

"General!  There's news from outside, sir!" A Toon Alligator ran out of nowhere, about a third as big as the two rebel Duel Monsters.  They twitched slightly at seeing a CARTOON, of all things, in Seth's castle, and almost missed the rest of what he said as a result. "They said two Duel Monsters were seen entering the castle from the upper levels, and it's suspected that they're still inside!  Apparently, the two monsters were-" he cut off with a strangled cry as a small burst of energy flew at him from behind the Alligator's Sword.

The reptile turned quickly, drawing out one of its swords as it turned to face the two light monsters. "You-"

"Thanks a lot for blowing our cover, Sei," Wingweaver muttered out of the corner of her mouth as she dropped into a fighting stance.  The dragon shrugged.

"Hey, that little drawing would've figured it out anyway, and at least this way I got to kill something…" She eyed the Alligator's Sword hopefully. "I don't suppose you'd let me…?"

"No.  You've blown up enough already today." With that said, Wingweaver darted forward, making a golden ball of light appear in her palm, which she threw at the opposing monster.  Alligator's Sword didn't stand a chance.  As she landed neatly past the smoking pile of ashes on the floor, Wingweaver turned back to Seiyaryu. "Aren't you coming?"

She just stared at the remains of the reptile and sweatdropped. "Yeah, sure.  Hey Wing?  Remind me to never get on your bad side."

"You act as if you've never seen me do it before," replied Wingweaver. "Let's go, before we attract any more unwanted attention.  Nodding, Seiyaryu followed her through the maze of hallways until they reached what seemed to be a solid wall to the outside.  Wingweaver was about to smash through it when she felt the dragon's eyes on her.  Sighing lightly, the fairy turned to see Seiyaryu giving her the best puppy-dog eyes she could manage. "What?"

Seiyaryu stared at her hopefully. "Could I?  Please?"

Wingweaver considered it for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure, why not.  I'll let you do the honors." As Seiyaryu cheered and stepped forward, she warned, "Just don't overdo it.  We don't want to get buried in a pile of rubble."

"I know, I know.  You think I didn't learn that lesson the last time it happened?" Before Wingweaver had much of a chance to ponder when exactly Seiyaryu had collapsed a wall on herself, the dragon had already powered up her attack and blasted a hole in another of Seth's walls, creating another handy entrance and an exit big enough for the both of them to squeeze through easily.

The pair jumped out of the wall, Wingweaver gracefully, and Seiyaryu with a yelled "Yahoo!" and a bit of a stumbling exit.  Spreading their wings quickly, they lifted up into the air until they were a good hundred feet above Seth's castle and a fair distance away, too.  Distant cries reached their ears, and Wingweaver glanced back.  She faced forward again, smiling. "They've seen us, and are giving chase.  Looks like the plan's working, hmm?"

Seiyaryu grinned happily. "Ooh, perfectly.  Now all we have to do is lead them to the prepared battlefield and hope we don't get blasted into a thousand pieces along the way."

"Thank you _very_ much for that image, Seiyaryu…"

She laughed, neatly dodging the Blue-Eyes' White Lightning. "Aw, don't worry, we'll be fine.  Just keep on your toes, 'kay?  Nothing can go wrong now!"

Wingweaver sighed deeply, shaking her head. "Famous last words."

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"All alone and lonesome," Joey remarked to himself. "Just where I wanna be right now." Weaving his way through the piles of rubble, the blond made his way over to where Tristan lay unconscious. "Well then, I guess it's up to me to take down this sucker.  Too bad no one'll witness it, huh?" Grabbing his friend, Joey tried to pick him up and almost fell over with the effort. "Tristan!  Why do you have to weigh so _much_?" he complained, deciding to ignore the fact that the brunette was passed out at the moment and couldn't hear him.

Sighing, Joey shook his head and dragged Tristan over to the remains of a collapsed wall, leaving him there to provide some sort of shelter.  Taking up his previous spot in the middle of the now very cracked road, Joey positioned himself so he could see both the Gadget Soldier and his friend.  Taking a deep breath, he exhaled slowly, forcing a grin onto his face though no one else was there to notice it. "Don't want this thing to destroy the city, do we?  Well then, let's get this show on the road!"

Throughout Joey's little heroism stunt, the machine had been advancing slowly, seeming to enjoy the fact that its opponent was completely helpless and had no means of escaping.  As soon as Joey turned back to it, the Gadget Soldier stopped, surveying its prey with a lazy look.  Joey gulped, and a bead of sweat ran slowly down his face. ­ _'Someone please tell me why those things must always be so BIG…'_

Running through his mental list of cards that he had in his deck, the blond quickly tried to think up if he had any monster with over 3900 attack points, and came up with nothing.  Groaning quietly, Joey barely managed to evade the blast that the monster sent at him, which blew up anything in a five-foot radius as soon as it hit the pavement.  Rolling across the street, Joey landed on the sidewalk and leapt to his feet. "I don't suppose we could talk this out?"

The Soldier regarded him with something of an amused expression before firing another attack, which came so close to the teenager that it singed the end of his jacket. "Hey!  Okay then… I guess it's time for Plan B!"

Drawing a card from his deck and hoping for the best, Joey glanced at it and growled.  Jinzo; it would be helpful if one of the cards used to power up Gadget Soldier, but unfortunately, he didn't have any such luck… that, and it was a sacrifice monster.  Well then… digging through his deck, Joey came up with the card he wanted and held it up. "Ultimate Offering!" As the card came into effect, Joey acted quickly; grabbing a non-sacrifice monster, which turned out to be Swordsman of Landstar, he summoned it and sacrificed if for Jinzo without a second thought, working as fast as he could so Seth couldn't use his card's effect.  Paying five hundred LP for the summoning of an extra monster gave Joey a small burst of pain and made him wince, but it was worth the effect.  Best of all, thanks to Jinzo's effect, Ultimate Offering was cancelled out for the time being.  That being done, Joey had to concentrate on what to do next: lower Gadget Soldier's attack and/or raise Jinzo's.  And this was where the hard part came in.

"All right, first off…" Joey held up a magic card in his right hand, while still clutching his deck in his left. "I'll activate Tailor of the Fickle, to move Machine Conversion Factory from Gadget Soldier to Jinzo!" As the mysterious building reappeared, stripped the Soldier of the extra parts, and moved to do its work on Jinzo, a part of Joey's mind briefly wondered why he was declaring his moves out loud, even if it was obvious.  Another part of his mind slapped it, told it to shut up, and explained that it was more dramatic this way.

Joey smiled as his magic card finished its work, now that the attack and defense scores of the two monsters were a bit closer to each other.  Jinzo now had 2700 attack and 1800 defense, while Gadget Soldier had 3600 attack and 2000 defense.  Good, but not good enough…

"One more card should do it," Joey mumbled to himself, reaching for his deck and drawing another card.  He took one look at it and grinned.  Just what he needed. "Graceful Dice!"

The little angel popped up in between the two combatants, holding the die that always seemed to be a bit too big for it to carry.  It threw the die up into the air before disappearing, but no one was paying any attention to it anymore, now that its precious burden had been dropped.  The three of them, Joey, Gadget Soldier, and Jinzo stared at the die intently, as if willing it to land on a certain number… it rolled slowly, rocking on the "six" side for a while… before, with a little burst, it turned to land on three.

The Soldier smirked, staring Joey straight in the eye before it launched itself right at Jinzo (3000/2100).  Joey stared straight back, seemingly unafraid… and if the Gadget Soldier had been looking closer, it would have noticed the identical smirks spread across both Joey and Jinzo's faces.

Sprinting forward, Seth's monster drew back his arm to deal the final blow to Jinzo, which would then streak towards Joey once the other machine was destroyed.  It flew towards Jinzo's head, coming closer… and closer… and closer…

"Now!" Joey yelled, and if his monster had a voice at the moment, it would've shouted the same thing at the same time.  Now grinning fully, Joey whipped out the card that he had hidden up his right sleeve. "SHIELD AND SWORD!"

The Gadget Soldier had about one millisecond to look startled before Jinzo reared back slightly, bringing its hands up in front of itself and delivering a lightning attack that struck his opponent full-force.  As the energy coursed through the Soldier's body, Joey was forcibly reminded of a very, very large lightning rod in the last few seconds before it let out a shriek and disappeared entirely.  Its job completed, Jinzo turned around and gave a formal bow to Joey before it too disappeared, presumably back to its home in the Shadow Realm.

Forgetting the fact that no other mortal but him had seen the fight, Joey grinned happily, making a victory sign. "Oh yeah!  Who's the man now?"

A soft moan from behind him caused Joey to whirl around, his hand automatically dropping to his deck. (_'My deck?  MY DECK?  Since when has _that_ been a reflex?'_) He heard it again and relaxed as he recognized the source of the noise.  Walking over to the wall, which had miraculously not collapsed even more during the battle, he poked his head around it to regard Tristan, who was waking up and rubbing his head.

The brunette gave his friend a weary look. "What happened?"

Joey waved his hand around casually. "Oh, you know, I beat the Gadget Soldier, saved our lives, rescued the city, etc., etc."

Tristan glanced around, and seeing no sign of the monster, raised an eyebrow. "Well, whaddya know…"

Joey rolled his eyes good-naturedly before leaning in closer to him. "Yeah, I did it.  But you know, Tristan, you sure picked a great time to take a nap."

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"The Library of Forbidden Knowledge?" Malik repeated dubiously, staring at Maha Vailo like the monster was crazy. "Why exactly would Seth keep a bunch of books he doesn't want anyone to know about?  Don't you think he'd burn them instead?"

Maha Vailo shrugged. "Don't ask me what goes through the mind of a priest of Set," he answered. "All I know is that this library is here, and I am its keeper."

"Riight…" Malik mumbled, before leaning down to whisper in Yugi's ear. "Tell me why exactly we should trust this guy again?"

Yugi took a quick glance around the library before turning back to his friend. "I didn't say that, but as he claims that he isn't really working for Seth, I guess we should give him the benefit of the doubt… just keep on your toes."

Malik mock-saluted the shorter boy. "Aye, aye, captain." He burst into laughter as the shorter boy glared at him.

Ignoring the two mortals, Maha Vailo grabbed one of the torches beside the door and swept around the room, lighting the rest of the torches so the whole library could be soon.  Stopping in the middle of the room, he turned back to the door and bowed. "Feel free to look around. If you have any questions, I'll be over at that table." He waved a hand to their left, and Yugi and Malik could clearly see a stack of books and scrolls surrounding the desk.

"Okay, now I know I'm going insane," Malik muttered under his breath. "It's not enough that we have to break into a castle that just happens to be located in a place called the Shadow Realm.  No, that castle just _has_ to have a library in it, _the_ Library of Forbidden Knowledge, with the librarian being a freakin' _monster_ with the personality of… of… of one of those stereotypical mysterious guys!"

Yugi tried to stifle a laugh. "That's nice, Malik.  But we might as well look around."

Sighing, Malik shook his head, but he wandered off to one of the shelves on the far side of the room.  Picking up a book, he read off the cover, "An Account of the Lives of and Treatment of _Kas_ in Ancient Egypt, As Seen Through the Eyes of a Molten Behemoth?  You've got to be kidding me…"

Yugi ignored him, going over and unraveling one of the scrolls.  He studied it for a moment before he smiled. "Interesting… forbidden magic.  I think this could come in handy…"

"Feel free to take what you need," said a voice over Yugi's shoulder, causing him to jump and glance behind him.  Maha Vailo sent him a slightly guilty smile before continuing, "Seth won't notice if anything's missing anyway.  He never comes down here."

Yugi nodded, tucking the scroll into his pocket. "Thanks."

Meanwhile, Malik had thrown the book haphazardly into a corner, where it burst into flames.  He stared at it, sweatdropping and hoping Maha Vailo hadn't noticed, before he figured that that was why it was considered a "dangerous book."  Reaching out, about to grab another one, he yelped when it suddenly sprouted fangs and tried to bite him.  Knocking it off the shelf quickly, he kicked it towards the wall, where the other book was still flaming.  In mere seconds, there was nothing left but ash, so Malik turned back to the shelf, wondering idly why anyone would create books like that and how they ended up in the Shadow Realm anyway.  Little did he know that the fanged book had quite a past, and had been sent to the Shadow Realm by a certain Pharaoh five thousand years back after it bit him.

Back to Malik.  The Egyptian went through a few more books, holding onto one that focused on magic in combination with different types of weapons, and throwing the rest into haphazard piles all over the place.  Across the room, Maha Vailo was sending him a scandalous look, which Malik luckily didn't notice.

"Let's see… anything else of interest," he muttered. "Manipulating Magical Artifacts and Other's Magic to Your Own Uses?  Sounds boring, but useful.  Maybe Yami'll want to take a look at it.  Hidden Special Effects of Extremely Obscure Monsters… useless AND boring… hey, what's this?" Malik studied the cover for a moment before yelling, "Hey Yugi, you might want to take a look at this!"

Maha Vailo glared at him. "Silence in the library, please!"

"Hey, it's not like there's anyone else but us three in here…"

"Yes, but some of the books have very sensitive hearing.  They may create a commotion," the spellcaster answered pompously.  Malik rolled his eyes and beckoned Yugi over.

"What is it?" Yugi took one look at the title and immediately focused on the book. "The heck?"

"Ah, I see you've found that book," Maha Vailo remarked from behind them, causing both teenagers to spin around.

"Do you mind not doing that?  You'll give someone a heart attack!"

"Sorry," the monster apologized, not sounding sorry at all.  After all, Malik had been ruining his precious books. "Do you want to know what that is about?"

"Sounds pretty self-explanatory," Yugi remarked. "Forbidden Dueling Methods?  But why were they forbidden, anyway?"

"You might want to sit down for this," Maha Vailo answered, walking over to his desk with Yugi and Malik following. "And bring the book."

Curious, the two took a seat in front of the spellcaster, who flipped the book open to the first page. "This is about the only item in the whole library that Seth takes any interest in.  You see, long before Yami's time, there were other ways of playing the Shadow Games, and various takes on those ways.  Some of them were more complicated than others, using dice and other items as major ways to play instead of stone tablets.  Some of these were much more dangerous than what you call Duel Monsters today, and they required a lot more magic and power than the other versions.  Eventually, the Pharaohs before Yami banned them, citing that they were too hazardous, and also that they were so rare that few knew how to play, and if they grew to have the same popularity as widely-played Duel Monsters games, many of the sorcerers and mages who played them would be destroyed from the sheer pressure of playing, even if they did win."

Yugi blinked. "And what ways would those be?"

"There are many of them, but two of the most well-known would be the melee rules of 'Duel Monsters' and Dungeon Dice Monsters.  There are also a few which are extremely unusual and never really caught on.  There's a good chance that Seth knows other ways of dueling than that which you are used to, which may prove to be a major disadvantage if you are to fight him."

Malik gave him a suspicious look. "How did you know we were against Seth?"

Maha Vailo chuckled. "The Pharaoh and his former High Priest have been rivals and enemies for as long as the prophecies care to name, and you are the reincarnations of some of Seth's ancient foes.  It's a good bet that you are working against him, though not all forms of the same person agree with one another…"

"What are you talking about?"

"The boy, Seto Kaiba," the spellcaster answered. "He disagrees with Seth on many counts, and would not be here if he could help it.  If you can convince him to leave Seth's side, he will be a valuable ally."

"And how exactly are we supposed to get him to help us?" frowned Yugi.

Maha Vailo just gave him a mysterious smile. "It's all a matter of leverage.  Seth has something that Kaiba wants.  Take it from him and return it to its rightful owner, and I can guarantee that the boy will help you on your quest.  Though," here a thoughtful look entered his eye, "if things continue as they are going now, that might not be necessary.  Seto Kaiba is learning more about his 'employer,' and the more he finds out, the more he dislikes the priest.  Soon enough, he may change his priorities… and when that happens, the balance will shift."

Malik cocked an eyebrow at the monster. "Excuse me, but are you a prophet or something?  Because I could've sworn you were just trying to tell the future."

Maha Vailo smiled knowingly, tapping his nose with one finger. "No, not a prophet, but you could say I'm observant… and all signs point to a sudden change.  Whether for better or for worse, only time can tell.  But in the meantime, I believe you have somewhere you need to be?"

"What do you mean?" Malik asked, just as Yugi yelped and tugged at his sleeve.

"Malik!  It's almost time for us to meet the others!  Let's go!" The two dashed out the door, but Yugi paused on the way out.

"Um… Maha Vailo, thank you for your help.  Are you sure you don't want to leave Seth's castle and come with us?  The rebels might mistake you for one of their enemies and hurt you."

The spellcaster shook his head. "No, I'm fine here.  It's my duty to guard this library." He stood up and walked over to the exit, putting a hand on the door. "Besides, who else do you think works as a spy for the rebels?" Winking, he closed the door softly, leaving Yugi staring at its polished stone surface.

"Well, that was unexpected," he remarked, turning back to Malik, who was waiting further down the hall and studying a scroll that showed a map of Seth's castle.  The Egyptian nodded sharply and turned right, beckoning Yugi to follow.

"Actually, it makes sense," the taller boy said. "Maha Vailo's a light monster, and if you remember, most of the rebels are light-types or weaker monsters.  Besides, having someone in such a high position in Seth's little autocracy would mean they'd get a lot more information."

"I guess…" Yugi shook his head. "I'd never have guessed it.  C'mon, let's go meet the others."

"And hope they had more luck in finding Ryou?"

Yugi smiled. "Yep.  But I'd say we've found something useful too."

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 "Well, the first thing to do here would obviously be to find out where exactly the portal leads," Marik pondered. "The obvious way would be to go through it and see what happens.  My guess is that it's somewhere near Domino City, since that's where the vast majority of attacks have been happening, but still, it has to be somewhere within fifty miles of where the monsters have been appearing.  That's about as far as its power works, and the monsters can only appear in that area.  The problem is, that still leaves a lot of area to search.  We need to test it out and see where the other portal is, and that means sending something living through it."

"How about I push you in and we find out that way?" Gemini Elf suggested.  Marik gave her a withering look.

"How about I push _you_ in, for all the help you're giving me?"

She shrugged, walking up the stairs. "Hey, if you have any better ideas… whoa!" Gemini Elf tripped on the last step, stumbling forward and right into Marik, who fell – right into the portal.

"Whoops…" She peered forward, trying to see through the colors and into the real world.  All she managed to see was a slight glimpse of the other side of the room, faded and tinted with whatever color happened to be flashing at the time. "Hey Marik, you in there?"

No answer. "Marik?" She tried poking at the portal, only to have her finger disappear.  She withdrew it quickly, before slowly sticking her whole hand in again and moving to the other side.  Strangely enough, there was no sign at all of her hand.  Shrugging, she moved back to her starting position, cupped her hands around her mouth, threw all caution to the winds, and yelled, "Marik!  Hey Marik, can you hear me?  Marik!"

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The first sensation the slave got when he went through was dizziness.  The many rainbow colors that had flashed in the portal were now surrounding him, forming a sort of swirling tunnel of colors that zipped by faster than he could stand, spinning and buffeting him around like it was some sort of demented roller coaster.  Marik closed his eyes, wishing the sensation would stop, but only succeeded in making it feel like he was going faster.  Now he understood why portals were never really popular back in ancient Egypt.  Seriously, even if you couldn't open a way to the Shadow Realm yourself, it was easier to go ask a priest or someone to do it for you than to go through this torture.  Whoever made this thing up was either extremely demented or extremely evil, or both.

It took a few seconds for Marik to realize that he had stopped spinning, since his head still insisted on making it seem like he was still twirling around in that insane tunnel.  It took a couple more seconds before he realized that, instead of spinning, he was falling, and falling fast.

Snapping his eyes open, the spirit glanced at the ground beneath him and winced.  Looking up, he noticed the portal some twenty feet above him.  Twenty feet above plus one hundred feet below equaled… ouch.

Luckily for Marik, Seth wasn't stupid enough to stick a portal in some random place 120 feet up in the air.  There was a small river below him, and from what he could tell, it wasn't very deep, but it would work to break his fall somewhat.  The rest of the scenery was lost to him, except for a dense forest of trees, before he hit the river hard.

Ow ow ow pain pain pain can't breathe SETH I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR THAT _GEMINI ELF YOU ARE SO DEAD WHEN I GET BACK UP THERE_ – all thoughts of murder fled his mind as soon as Marik realized that he was about to land face-first in the mud at the bottom of the stream.  Moving so his feet were under him, he landed on the bed of the river and launched himself upwards again, breaking the surface in record time.  Taking a deep breath to get the wind back into him, Marik treaded water for a few seconds before he swam to the bank, getting out and scowling at his sopping wet self and the portal hovering innocently above him.  Nothing else seemed to be falling out, and he scowled.

"GEMINI!  WHERE IN THE NAME OF RA ARE YOU?" Marik yelled at the top of his lungs.  Not his best moment, but considering that he'd just fallen a good distance into a river and was now completely drenched, it was understandable.  He received no answer and glanced around, trying to find a way back up there.  Seeing none, he was just about to summon a winged monster of some type or another when a head poked out of the portal.  Strangely enough, it didn't fall to the ground, and no body followed it.

Marik sweatdropped slightly at seeing Gemini Elf, swirly-eyed as her head poked out of the portal. "Ooh… dizziness… too many colors… I need to hurt whoever designed that thing…" She shook her head slightly, glancing around. "Marik?  Ya down there?"

"What do you think?" he asked her dryly.  She looked down.

"Oh, there you are.  Geez, look at that drop!  I'm surprised you're still in one piece."

"No thanks to you," he replied. "Just get me back up there."

"Sure, sure," Gemini Elf answered. "Hold on, I'll pull you up with something." Her head disappeared, and moments later, a rope descended from the portal.  Marik grabbed on to it, wondering idly where she'd gotten it, since the room was bare, and decided that it was typical rebel issue.  He gave it a quick tug to let her know he was coming up before he walked over to a tree, set his feet against it, and began climbing.

Ten minutes later, he was back through the portal, lying on the ground as his head tried to adjust to the fact that he was no longer spinning.  Gemini Elf bent over him, looking not the slightest bit concerned. "Hey Marik, you okay?"

Silence on the part of the spirit. "Marik?" Still nothing.  Gemini Elf blinked, then started poking him repeatedly on the nose. "Oh, Marik…"

Marik groaned, but said nothing. "Marik!  C'mon, we still have to search the rest of this place.  Marik?"

He finally snapped, grabbing her finger and holding on to it. "I'm up, I'm up!  Geez…" He sat up, glancing around. "The only problem was that we didn't have much of a chance to find out where exactly the portal led…"

"You mean you didn't recognize it?"

Marik shook his head, frowning. "Nope.  Haven't seen a place like it during my whole time in Domino."

"Oh." Gemini Elf thought about that for a moment, then shook her head. "That's a problem."

"You're the inhabitant of the Shadow Realm, so what do you suggest we do?" Marik asked her, standing up.

"Hm… well, the only way to find out where it is given a time limit is if we send someone through there and tell them to find a place that you know of, so you can meet them there later and they can lead you to the portal," the monster mused. "Both of us are out of the question, though, so the logical choice would be if we send someone else.  Considering it's only us two at the moment, I'd say you choose one of your monsters, preferably something that can fly or at least move quickly, and tell it to find Domino City.  Pick a place and tell it to meet you there, and you can follow it back later."

Marik nodded his agreement before flipping through his deck.  "Blue-Winged Crown!" The blue bird appeared before him, screeching loudly as it stretched its wings. "Go through the portal, and you'll end up in Japan, somewhere near Domino City," he instructed the monster. "Head for Domino.  When you get there, you should see a large building – the largest in the city.  That's Kaiba Corp.  Meet us on the rooftop in three days.  When we get there, you're to show us back to the portal, so we can find out where it emerges in the real world and destroy it.  Understand?" The winged-beast nodded. "Good.  Go now, and I'll see you in three days." Without any further instruction, the Blue-Winged Crown dove head-first into the portal and disappeared.

Sighing, the Egyptian spirit turned back to Gemini Elf. "You're right.  I guess we should be heading back now.  Isn't time almost up?"

The monster gasped, having completely forgotten about their original mission since they found the portal. "Oh no!  I can't believe we forgot!  It's been almost three hours since we separated from the others.  Let's go."

"Alright," Marik answered as they headed out the door. "I just hope one of the other groups had better luck finding Ryou."

Gemini Elf nodded. "I'm sure they did, Marik.  I'm sure they did…"

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Dark Magician Girl groaned loudly. "A prophecy.  Just what we need.  What does it say, Pharaoh?"

"Hold on, I'm getting there," Yami said distantly. "Hm…" He mumbled a few phrases in Egyptian under his breath before nodding. "Okay, it says something like, 'When two forces of the ancient long ago clash in a future time of machines and science, one great titan will fall-' "

"Well, that's obvious," DMG grumbled.  Seeing Yami glaring at her, she waved a hand. "Sorry.  Go on." When the Pharaoh turned away and was no longer listening, she muttered to herself, "But how did the ancient Egyptians know what machines are anyway?"

" 'One great titan will fall,' " Yami continued. " 'Their battle will be long, their struggle harsh, their allies few and many, loyal and treacherous.  But in the end, they will each stand alone, for the fate of the both realms rides on this battle.  Those once considered friends, turned against each other, will fight the last of their millennia-long conflicts, and only one will survive.  Pharaoh and High Priest, good and evil, real world and Shadow Realm… and the one who emerges the victor has supreme claim to both.' Then there's the picture, and underneath it, more writing. 'Pharaoh Yami and Priest Seth.  The one who will claim final triumph will be…' " he paused.

Dark Magician Girl leaned forward expectantly. "Will be?  Will be who?"

Yami was silent for a long moment before he heaved a slightly disappointed sigh. "I don't know.  It's rubbed out right there." DMG cursed uncharacteristically and would've started banging her head against the wall if it weren't for Yami's next words. "But under that… there's something else.  More of the prophecy, I guess… a rhyme, of some sort."

"Really?  Where?" Dark Magician Girl all but pushed Yami away in her enthusiasm to see. "What does it say what does it say what does it say?"

Yami sent her a death-glare. "I would read it if you'd get out of the way.  And _please_ try to stay out of my light; I need it to read." Sheepishly, the magician scooted over to the side, leaning over Yami's shoulder to look at the hieroglyphics, though she didn't understand one pictograph of it.

"Now, where was I?" Yami pondered. "Ah, here.__

_" 'It started with six, it ends with nine._

_" 'The people, the values, the battles…_

_" 'The first, where the understated prove themselves,_

_" 'The second, where the weak show their power,_

_" 'The third, when strength is most valued,_

_" 'The fourth and fifth, rolled into one,_

_" 'The sixth, the revengeful – the imperfect ending,_

_" 'The seventh and eighth, the scorned, the defenders,_

_" 'And the ninth, the final clash._

_" 'The Shadow Realm awaits the day when its fate is decided._

_" 'And what shall that fate be?_

_" 'Only time will tell…' "_

Yami stopped reading there, his brow furrowed into a frown. "Well, there's another puzzle for us to get confused over.  Do you understand that at all?"

Dark Magician Girl shrugged. "Somewhat.  Six something in the beginning, and there will be nine at the end.  The rest of it, I have no idea, except that the 'ninth' whatever-that-is is referring to when you and the others finally go up against Seth.  Any other ideas?"

Yami shook his head. "No, that's pretty much what I gathered from it too.  I don't suppose you have anything to copy this down on?"

Immediately, she produced a piece of parchment and a pen from out of nowhere.  Yami took them, sending her a questioning look, and Dark Magician Girl shrugged.  Yami shook his head, writing it off to the fact that she was a MAGICIAN, after all, and got to copying down the prophecy.

A few minutes later, Yami rolled up the scroll, stuck it inside his jacket, and looked at Dark Magician Girl.  She also stood, stretching as she glanced around the room. "I don't suppose there's anything else of interest here?"

Yami shook his head. "No, I already checked before I came across the prophecy.  There's really little else."

Dark Magician Girl shot a nervous glance around the room before she walked up to the altar and knelt before it. "Well then, I guess we'd better pay our respects to Set and then be off.  I mean, we don't want him to be angry at us because we walked in, looked around, and walked out without acknowledging that this is one of his shrines…"

Yami nodded, kneeling down beside her and mumbling a few phrases under his breath.  The spellcaster couldn't catch all of it, but from what she could tell, he was asking Set to please hold off his priest for the time being.  He stood up quickly after he finished. "Okay, let's go.  It's almost time for us to head back and meet the others."

Sighing, DMG quickly said her own prayers before she followed suit. "It's time to go?  Really?  It didn't seem like that long to me…"

Yami waved his hand around, taking in the whole room. "We spent a good two hours wandering around outside, and I used up another half hour copying the prophecy.  We should get there just in time."

"Oh.  Alright." Dark Magician Girl followed Yami as he exited the room, watching as the door shut behind him of its own accord.  She shivered slightly. "That's freaky.  Do all shrine doors do that?"

Yami smiled slightly at seeing her reaction. "No, just the particularly old and powerful ones.  Don't worry, you'll get used to it after a while."

"Probably not.  I bet that'll be the last shrine I'll see for the next few centuries…" DMG fell silent as she followed Yami through the corridors of the castle, hoping that he knew where he was going better than she did.  They walked like that for a while, with Yami pausing at each intersection while he tried to figure out where he was going, before she finally spoke. "I sure hope Ryou wasn't on this floor…"

Yami shot her a sharp look. "Really?  Why not?"

"Well, we spent so much time in that shrine that we really didn't have time to explore the whole place that thoroughly.  If he was there, we might've missed him, and I'd feel terrible if I found out that he was on the dungeon level we were supposed to search and we didn't find him.  And then, by the time that we would be able to come back, if it was too late…"

Yami shook his head. "Don't worry about it.  We did the best we could, and as far as we know, he was nowhere on this floor.  Besides, it's more likely that he was on another level, and one of the other groups found him."

Dark Magician Girl nodded hesitantly. "I hope you're right…"

Yami smirked, half to reassure them both and half because of what he was saying. "Of course I'm right.  I'm the Pharaoh; I'm never wrong."

DMG couldn't help but to laugh. "Really now?  Then why does the tomb robber find it necessary to correct you all the time?"

"Because he's a tomb robber, and it's a well-known fact that kings and thieves rarely get along," Yami grumbled. "But despite all that, he's rather good at heart."

"Oh, so _that's_ why you keep him around.  I knew there was a reason."

Yami shot her a glare, and she rolled her eyes and was quiet.  It was a few minutes later before either of them spoke again.

"Is it just me, or is a little too quiet in here?" Yami asked softly, slowing to a halt as his eyes darted around suspiciously.

Dark Magician Girl shook her head. "Well, it's always pretty quiet in here, but I think you're right.  Something's off…" Unconsciously, she moved a little closer to the Pharaoh, who put his hand on his deck.

"Right…" Yami murmured, still looking around.  He caught a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye, and he focused on it quickly, nudging his companion in the side and jerking his head in its direction.  Upon closer inspection, there was nothing there but a patch of shadow… still, he drew out his cards and pulled one out, only sparing a quick glance down at it.  Koumori Dragon.  Perfect.

"I don't see anything," Dark Magician Girl whispered back, but she still moved along with him when Yami snuck over to the shadow.  They inched closer to the patch, and as they came nearer, Yami could see that it wasn't so much a _shadow_ as a large patch of darkness, apparently stuck there for no particular reason.  He shared a meaningful look with his partner, and she nodded, showing that she had noticed it too.  They continued moving forward, keeping a close eye on it, and were almost, but not quite, startled when a figure uncoiled itself from the darkness.

The first impression Yami got from the monster was that it was rather large, for something that managed to sneak into the dungeon unnoticed.  The blue dragon was around fifteen feet tall, nowhere near as big as the Blue-Eyes, but still large enough to be a potential source of trouble.  Its large teeth showed clearly as it yawned widely and gave them an appraising look.  His gaze swept from Dark Magician Girl to Yami, at which point its claws immediately came unsheathed.  Searching his mind to see if he recognized the monster, one picture in Yami's head clicked.  An Aqua Dragon.

If the dragon had had eyebrows, they would be raised. "Well, apparently here we have a Dark Magician Girl, who I wouldn't know if she was a traitor or not, as I don't recall seeing one in the army.  Judging by that, she must be a rebel monster." Said spellcaster growled. "And there we have a… well, from the scent of him, it's not really a mortal.  He was mortal once, but I think he's a spirit now.  In any other case, I would be confused, but from that hair of his… I'd guess he's the immortal Pharaoh himself." The last part was said mockingly, causing Yami to scowl at him.

"Yes, so what if I am?"

Sighing slightly, the dragon dropped into a half-crouching position. "I'd say that's too bad.  That means, by order of my Lord Seth, I have to exterminate you.  A bit of a pity, really, to have do destroy such a beautiful monster as your companion.  See, it would've been easier if you'd just claimed to be an innocent citizen who somehow managed to wander into this castle."

Yami rolled his eyes. "The last time I checked, there were no such things as 'citizens,' innocent or otherwise, in the Shadow Realm.  And you would've been told to destroy all intruders anyway."

Aqua Dragon bared his fangs in a grin. "Hm, good point.  I'll have to bring that up to Lord Seth.  In the meantime," he raised his claws, "I believe I was about to kill you?"

Yami and Dark Magician Girl barely managed to get out of the way before Aqua Dragon launched himself forward, trying to slash at them.  He turned his head and shot a blast of water out of his mouth at Yami, which missed him by about a foot and caused rubble to shower down near the Pharaoh.  Yami cursed quietly, shielding his head and rolling out of the way, as the dragon dove for him again. "DMG!  You could help, you know!"

"His attack power's 2250!  My magic would bounce right off!" she yelled back, raising her staff and firing off a Dark Magic Attack to prove her point.  As expected, it did nothing but hit the dragon on the shoulder, disintegrating just as it hit.  It served her purpose, however, as Aqua Dragon turned away from Yami to study his new opponent.

"You know, that actually hurt a little," Aqua Dragon commented, in a slightly amused tone. "If you're lucky, it might just bruise tomorrow.  Oh wait… you're going to die right now, so you won't ever know what the result of that is." He attacked again with his water attack; Dark Magician Girl managed to hold it off with her staff for barely long enough to get away.

"You're better than I thought," her enemy said thoughtfully. "Now, if only I could get Lord Seth to use a Brain Control on you, I might just spare you.  Unless, of course, you're willing to work with us without that kind of persuasion?"

"Never!" she shot back at him, aiming with her staff and firing an attack at him that the dragon dodged lazily.

Now hovering in the air, the Aqua Dragon gave her a disappointed look. "Really?  It was such a kind offer, I thought you couldn't turn me down.  Oh well.  Some women are too stubborn for their own good, I guess." He leaped at her, claws brought forward, as he powered up his water blast for extra insurance.  DMG fell into a crouch, ready to leap away…

[Wait!] Yami's voice rang in her head, causing her to lose her concentration for a split second.  She recovered quickly, however, and glared at him.

[What is it?  I'm about to be killed here, you know!] Dark Magician Girl yelled mentally, not at all happy that Yami had used her power of telepathy against her.

[Just stay there and wait for him to come to you.  I have a plan.]

She hesitated for only a second. [Okay, but I hope I know what you're doing.]

Yami's mental voice was laced with a smirk. [Of course I do.  I'm the Pharaoh.]

Dark Magician Girl chose not to answer it.  Breaking the telepathic link, she focused on the dragon heading toward her, glad that her powers allowed the exchange to happen in no more than a few milliseconds.  Bracing herself for the attack, she readied her staff in a defensive position and waited for the Pharaoh to make his move.

It came, and not a second too late.  Just when she thought she was about to be speared through with Aqua Dragon's claws, blown into pieces by his water attack, or both, Yami's confident voice rang through the dungeon.

"Book of Secret Arts!"

Dark Magician Girl had never been more grateful for magic cards in her life.  But then again, she'd never had to deal with a Pharaoh who had a thing for the dramatic either.  As she blasted the Aqua Dragon, who shrieked as he was destroyed, a small part of her mind grumbled against Yami.  One second later, and… okay, it might be better not to think about that.

Shaking her head to clear it of any unnecessary thoughts, Dark Magician Girl gave Yami a glare. "Nice thinking there, Pharaoh.  But do you _mind_ not cutting it so close next time?"

Yami merely chuckled and walked past her, taking his former place as the leader of the duo.  Sighing and shaking her head, Dark Magician Girl followed, as the two headed out of the dungeon maze to meet up with their friends.

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_"Ryou!"_  The white-haired boy turned at hearing his name spoken by a very familiar voice, only to have the wind knocked out of him when something – or someone – ran into him full-force, grabbing him and hugging him tightly.  Ryou tensed quickly, only to hear Ryu-Ran chuckle beside him.  Giving the monster an odd look, he decided that whatever it was wasn't threatening him.  It was then he noticed the few strands of white hair that hung in front of his face.

"Wait a minute… Bakura?" he asked, gently pushing the spirit away to take a good look at him. "It _is_ you!" Indeed it was, and the tomb robber was grinning like an idiot at having found his reincarnation.

Bakura nodded, watching as a slow smile spread over Ryou's face. "Yeah, it's me.  Are you okay?  How long have you been here?"

Ryou gave him a look. "Yes, I'm fine.  What do you mean, how long have I been here?  It's only been little more than a day…"

"Really now?" Bakura pondered casually, having once again gained his composure. "Well, that's interesting.  It's been about… what, five hours?  For us."

"Five hours?" Ryou sent him an incredulous look, then shook his head. "Five hours, and you manage to make it to the Shadow Realm, get into Seth's castle, meet a couple new friends," he gestured at Chaos Mage, who did an elaborate bow, "and find me?  From what I've seen of this place so far, it's not easy to go anywhere, even if you have a vague idea of how to get there…"

Bakura sweatdropped. "Well, our lives are adventurous, to say the least." Grabbing Ryou's shoulder lightly, he began to steer the teenager in the direction from which they had originally come. "So, tell me what you've been up to while we've been looking for you.  Did anything interesting happen?"

"No, not really… except Seth and Kaiba passed me on their way to go see Mokuba, or something.  I learned that Kaiba doesn't really want to be here, and also that he isn't exactly willing to help a classmate in need, especially if that classmate is a captive of Seth…"

"Note to self: hurt Kaiba as much as possible as soon as I get the chance," Bakura muttered to himself.  Ryou sent him a questioning look, and the King of Thieves just grinned. "Okay, well, tell me how you got out of your cell, then."

As Ryou filled Bakura in on the details, Ryu-Ran took a quick glance at them before he sidled over to Chaos Mage and whispered in her ear. "Is it just me, or is there something weird going on here?"

The magician glanced at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, don't tell the humans, but I think we're lost," the dragon murmured.

Chaos Mage snorted. "Probably not.  In case you're forgetting, we're following Bakura here, a tomb robber _and_ the King of Thieves."

"Maybe so, but did it take you this long to find us, from wherever you were?"

She thought about that for a moment. "No, but then again, we did a bit of wandering around before we found where Ryou was kept…"

"Ah," Ryu-Ran paused. "And have we passed that cell yet?"

"…uh oh.  Bakura!" Chaos Mage yelled.

"…nicely done, Ryou, you'd have made an awesome tomb robber if you lived in our time.  One of the best," Bakura was saying, before he was interrupted.  Ignoring Ryou's sweatdrop, he turned to give the monster an exasperated look. "What?"

"As I was telling her, I think we're lost," Ryu-Ran told him.

Bakura blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?  I know where I'm going."

Chaos Mage shook her head. "No, I agree with Ryu-Ran.  We should've gotten out of here a long time ago, unless there's some sort of trick or we're lost."

Bakura pondered that for a moment. "Well, we're definitely not _lost_; that would be an insult to my tomb robber's skills." Behind him, Ryou rolled his eyes, but Bakura didn't notice. "And I don't think there's a trick.  I would've noticed it by now."

Ryu-Ran coughed politely, getting Bakura's attention. "Um… I hate to tell you, Bakura, but we've been going in circles.  The proof's right there." He pointed to a candle, lying innocently on the ground inside one of the cells.  The others stared at it blankly. "I've been getting a weird feeling for a while, so I dropped that a while back.  And anyway, there it is."

The four of them just stared at it for a few minutes before Bakura groaned. "What?  But I don't understand… we shouldn't have been going in circles.  I've been following the ashes in the cells, so we should eventually end up back where Ryou was…"

"Except we aren't," finished Ryou. "Is anyone else smelling a rat?"

Silence greeted him, until Ryu-Ran moaned loudly. "Judging by the way this is going, we'll never get out of here!"

"Ryu-Ran-" Ryou began, but stopped and yelped as the dragon fired a blast at the wall in frustration, causing a shower of debris to fall from the spot.

Bakura blinked. "Well, that's one way to get where we're going; blow holes in the walls…"

But when the dust cleared, there was nothing there, except a wall with a few small chunks of rock missing.  Ryu-Ran glared at it for a moment before he burst into indignation. "Hey!  That's no ordinary wall!  It should be in pieces by now!  That's not supposed to happen!"

"And yet, it's still standing," Bakura mused. "Interesting…" He turned to Chaos Mage. "Do you mind trying?"

She shrugged and did as he asked.  The result was a slightly larger explosion, more dust, and a few more rocks on the ground.  Still, the wall held fast.  Ryu-Ran walked up to it and kicked it, hard. "Stupid wall…"

"Well, it's been decided that, either Seth likes the walls of his dungeons about ten feet thick, or that's no ordinary wall." Ryou stated. "And I know for a fact that the walls are only about three inches thick… so what are the 'no ordinary wall' options?"

"One, it's a magic wall," Bakura walked up to it and tried his little magic-identification spell again.  Nothing happened, except for a slight sparking that burned him slightly.  Stuffing his fingers in his mouth, Bakura scowled hatefully at the wall before continuing, "Two, it's not a wall at all, and we're trapped in an illusion in our own minds.  Highly unlike, because I don't remember any blackouts that would tell us that we entered our mind-realms.  And three… this wall is protected by a non-human magic.  If those are the only choices, then I'd say number three.  Then what could it be?"

Ryou thought about that for a few seconds before his eyes alighted on Chaos Mage and Ryu-Ran. "A Duel Monster?"

"And what Duel Monster would that be, pray tell?" Ryu-Ran asked sarcastically. "I know of no Duel Monsters that are rock walls that trap people in a… maze…"

"Or a labyrinth," Bakura said slowly, a grin beginning to form on his face. "A Labyrinth Wall!  No wonder your attacks didn't affect it, since it has 3000 defense…"

Ryu-Ran clapped his hands together cheerfully. "Well then!  Now that we've figured that out, what next?"

"That's easy.  We destroy it, and then we can get out of here," suggested Ryou. "But does anyone have any idea just _how_ we get rid of it?"

Ryu-Ran and Chaos Mage shared a meaningful look as they positioned themselves in front of one of the walls. "Ryou dear," began Ryu-Ran, "do you remember what I asked you earlier about combined attacks?"

Ryou blinked. "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Chaos Mage smirked. "Just watch."

Simultaneously, the two linked hands and started firing up their attacks to maximum power – and beyond.  Ryou could only watch in astonishment as a beam of light, red and a deep blue swirled together, shot out from the two of them and hit the wall.  Immediately, the whole dungeon started to vibrate, and pieces of rock started falling from the ceiling, and Ryou and Bakura ducked reflexively, shielding their heads.

Then, almost as suddenly as it had come, the tremors stopped.  Ryou looked up and saw the two monsters standing triumphantly, with the piece of wall they had attacked slowly disintegrating.  Grinning, Ryu-Ran turned back to the two humans standing behind them. "Well?  It's destroyed, let's go!"

Bakura once again took the lead, with Ryou walking next to him and the two monsters trailing behind. "Combined attacks?" Ryou muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah.  I've heard of them," Bakura answered distractedly. "What happens is that two or more monsters fuse part of their energies together.  Then, their respective attacks go up by half again.  The average of the new attacks is the 'combined attack power,' and it deals damage like a regular attack."

"Oh." Ryou thought about that in silence for a moment, before something else struck him. "Two or more?"

Bakura nodded. "Yep.  It can lead to some pretty destructive combos, believe me.  So much so, in fact, that it was outlawed in all but the most extreme Shadow Games.  The problem with it is that it takes so much energy out of the monsters that the ones that combined their power can't attack for the next two turns.  It's more of a last-ditch move than anything else."

"Hm…" Ryou stored that away in his mind for future reference before he turned back to Bakura. "So, where exactly are we going now, anyway?"

"To the second basement floor," the tomb robber said. "We're supposed to meet the others there in… oh, about twenty minutes.  Believe me, they'll be as happy as I was to see that you're okay."

"Ah," Ryou mumbled, remembering Bakura's reaction. "Oh, joy."

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Taking a good look at the two figures, flying in from the distance with what looked like a dark cloud following them, Seth grinned. "And the pieces are falling into place.  The players are almost ready… soon the game will really begin."

Kaiba sent him a weary look. "What are you blabbering about now, Seth?"

The priest turned to him, looking as innocent as could be. "Why, nothing really, my dear Seto.  And please, _don't_ be so formal with me!  You know I absolutely loath it when you speak to me like that."

The CEO rolled his eyes. "Shut up, priest.  And don't even start forcing that 'Lord Seth' title on me.  I'll call you what I want, and speak to you how I want."

Seth just cocked an eyebrow lazily. "Really now?  And what if I harm little Mokuba because of it?"

Kaiba fell silent, and Seth smirked. "Ah.  I thought so.  Worried about little Mokie's safety, now are we?  Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of hurting your beloved little brother as long as I have a use for you.  Of course," he paused, "With the Pharaoh and his pals in my castle, I can't promise anything.  They might kill him!" he said in a mock-worried voice. "And then where would you be?  If he dies, then you no longer have a reason to work with me, but then it's _their_ fault, so you would never help your brother's murderers… oh, what to do, what to do?  This is quite a situation you've gotten yourself into, Seto-chan!"

Kaiba growled at the nickname, and Zake moved slightly closer to Seth. "Supposing that everything goes to plan – the Pharaoh's plan, I mean – what are we going to do?"

Seth stretched back lazily. "Don't worry, I've got it all figured out.  My strategy depends on them believing they've defeated me for the time being."

Kaiba glared at him. "You mean you'll purposely lose this battle?"

The priest smiled calmly. "Well… I wouldn't call it that.  A 'necessary loss' is more like it.  And, of course, we'll have to put up a good fight, and get rid of as many rebel monsters as we can in the process…"

At that point, the brown-haired teenager tuned his previous incarnation out.  He was starting to have his doubts about this whole deal.  Not only was Seth cruel and sadistic – even more than he himself was known to be – but he was willing to sacrifice as many of his followers to get what he wanted.  Seto wondered idly if they knew how Seth worked, then dismissed it as unimportant.  Not only that, but he was doing this to protect Mokuba, and Seth was doing nothing to keep his little brother safe.  He was even suggesting that Yugi and his friends would have the nerve to hurt him… As much as Kaiba hated to admit it, he couldn't imagine them doing anything bad to Mokuba.  They were too nice for that, and it would be more profitable to help _them_ instead, but he couldn't just abandon his brother… and then, of course, you have the fact that Seth was planning to blame the takeover of the world on _him_.  You couldn't get much worse than that.  But he didn't really have a choice in the matter, did he?  He was in too far to back out now.

Kaiba sighed softly, shaking his head. _'Seto Kaiba, WHAT have you gotten yourself into now?'_

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_'Cold…'_

_'Lonely…'_

_'So quiet…'_

_'Seto…'_

_'Seto, where are you?'_

Mokuba shivered slightly in his cell, hugging his knees tightly to his chest.  The only sounds he could hear was that of his chains clanking against the cell floor, reminding him of his captivity, and the steady _drip, drip_ of water falling against the stones somewhere.  Other than that, it was completely silent.  The room he was in seemed soundproof; nothing from outside could be heard.

And it was starting to drive him crazy.

Locked up in the dark, no light, no sound, nothing to convince him that he hadn't lost his mind yet… nothing to differentiate between when his eyes were opened or closed, when he was awake or asleep… it all seemed like a never-ending nightmare.  Waking or sleeping, he couldn't tell.  It was all the same, now… even when he was sure his eyes were open, he couldn't see anything at all, not even his hand in front of his face.  Some might find it peaceful, to be alone in the dark where no one could bother you… but Mokuba wasn't one of those people.  To tell the truth, he was scared.  Scared to death in this small, cramped space, where there was barely enough room for him to even curl up without scraping the walls in front of and behind him.  It was a good thing he wasn't claustrophobic, or he would've broken down into a screaming fit a long time ago.

What day was it?  How much time had passed since he had first ended up in here?  Mokuba had no idea… no sense of anything at all, anymore.  Seto had promised to try and get him out, but… Seto was working for Seth.  For his captor.  He knew his brother only wanted to rescue him, but just the thought of it was almost worse than being locked up here.

He was shaking even harder, now.  It was making the chains rattle even more.  Mokuba moved so his hands were flat against the floor, to try and stop them from moving so much.  The freezing feeling against his palms made him gasp slightly, retract his palms, and place them on his knees.  After a few seconds, he wrapped his arms around his legs again and started rocking back and forth, back and forth… _Seto, it's been so long since you last came.  Where are you?_

A sound.  A small sound that broke the silence surrounding him, that made his thoughts stop in their tracks.  What was that?  It came again, and Mokuba identified it this time, as being inside his own cell.  His throat constricted tightly, and it came again.  A quiet sob, the only other sound he had heard in days.

Mokuba sighed deeply, forcing himself to stop crying.  He hadn't cried since he was eight… but this time, he couldn't help it.  And besides, if he could hear himself, at least he knew he was somewhat sane…

A bitter laugh emerged at the last thought.  Somewhat sane.  He used to be so proud, of himself, of his brother, of his brother's company… and look at him now.  Reduced to _crying_ to know he wasn't going mad.

He laughed again, a sort of half-chuckle, half-hiccup as the tears started running again.  Who was he kidding.  He was a coward, always depended on Seto to rescue him… just as he was doing now.  He didn't even know where Seto _was_, if he was okay, if he was even alive… Mokuba refused to think about the last option.

_Please help me, Seto… please come soon…_

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And… there you go!  ESD, chapter ten!  Twenty-two pages, with the formatting I detailed last chapter.  Hope you enjoyed!

Okay, I know the prophecy didn't rhyme.  He was translating it, and I was too lazy to waste time trying to get it to rhyme.  Deal with it.  Updates _will_ come faster now, hopefully, since all I have left in the way of major testing is finals for four classes.  Ugh… finals…

Oh yes, I need your opinions for something.  What do you guys think of a SetoxIsis coupling?  This might be SetoxIsis later, depending on if you guys want it or not.  I can write it without the romance, if you want, so tell me what you think.

Review review review!  Reviewers get… um… (runs off to find her sugar stuff) (comes back with her arms piled full of brownies) These!  So review!  And flames will be used to BURN THE AP TEST, LIKE THE DRAWINGS ON OUR BOARD SHOWED BEFORE WE TOOK IT!!  MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!! – (clears throat) Um, yes.  Sorry about that.  Review, pwease!


	12. Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Alrighty then! Brownies go to Hikage Kitsune, ShadowFire2, and hobbit13. Thank you very much for not giving up on this story, even with all my extreme laziness. ;) Believe me, if this continues into next school year, updates will be even more random… I'm planning to take two AP classes next year. AP classes are evil. Then why am I taking them, you ask? Because I'm strange (sweatdrops). Well, it's summer, so expect more writing… or at least, that's what you'd think. I might work on this more, but I also have a couple new fic ideas that I also want to write…

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ is an awesome anime, one of my favorites. The person who owns it is undoubtedly incredibly rich by now. One, that person's name is Kazuki Takahashi, which is not my name. Two, I am not incredibly rich, which means I don't own YGO and probably never will. Oh yes, and someone else is mentioned in here… the rights to him and his movie belong to Disney, unfortunately. You'll know him when you see him.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Eleven

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Sometimes Kaiba wondered just how evil Seth could get. Just when he thought he had the priest all figured out, Seth would go and do something crazy and unexpected, forcing Kaiba to completely change his opinion. And most of the time, said crazy and unexpected act worked, which confused the poor boy to no end, who could never understand how anything could work without proper logic, application of skills, and use of the right scientific principles. But then again, magic was not considered to exist scientifically, nor were the monsters that he'd gotten so used to seeing in their real flesh-and-blood (or whatever they were made of) forms. And of course, Seth did strange things like that very often, causing Kaiba to never keep the same opinion of the priest for more than ten minutes at a time. And frankly, that was _really_ starting to bother the CEO.

At the moment, though, Seth was more occupied with the two figures flying in from the south than with tormenting his reincarnation. As they flew closer, the grin on the priest's face grew even wider, reminding Kaiba inexorably of the Cheshire Cat. After a few minutes of this, he finally snapped and asked irritably, "And what's gotten _you_ so happy, Seth?"

Seth turned to look at him, the smile not fading in the slightest. "Why, Seto! Have you not been paying attention to our conversation for the last few hours?"

Kaiba's remaining patience disappeared. "Of course I haven't, my dear previous incarnation. I find it so much more _interesting_ to stare at all the pretty colors in the sky then to listen to you talking," he said sarcastically. "What do you think, baka? I want to know what's gotten into you!"

Seth cocked his head innocently. "Well, what do you think?"

"If you ask me, I'd say you're high on something. Probably crack."

Seth shook his head, the grin never leaving, before he turned back to face the two approaching Duel Monsters. "No," he said softly. "No, I'm not on anything. It's just that I'm so close to victory… and they may not know it, but those two are helping me towards that goal."

Seto chose not to answer that question, shaking his head impatiently. The longer he knew Seth, the more he was convinced that the priest was crazy. If this went on for much longer… he decided not to think about that. He would deal with that when the time came. For now, he just had to put up with it… for Mokuba.

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Oblivious to the troubles that were going on outside the castle, the fact that half of Domino City was in ruins, and just _how_ many problems their friends in the real world were having, the six humans, spirits, and rebel Duel Monsters _inside_ the castle were having their little reunion. Since the meeting was on the second dungeon level, Yami and Dark Magician Girl were naturally the first two there. Yugi and Malik showed up soon afterwards, looking unharmed but a little tired from all the excitement.

As soon as he saw his reincarnation, Yami pounced. "Yugi! Are you alright? Did you run into any trouble? I don't suppose you found Ryou…? What are those things you're holding?"

The teenager took a few moments to sort things out before answering. "Yes; no, not really; no, and I don't see him, so I'm guessing you didn't find him either; and these are stuff we picked up from the library."

Yami's brow furrowed in confusion. "The library?"

Malik sighed, flopping down to rest against the wall in exhaustion. "Yes, Pharaoh, you heard him. The library. It's Seth's own personal public library. The librarian was kind enough to let us borrow a few books and scrolls without a card, though he did warn us that there were heavy fines if the stuff was returned even a minute late."

Yami looked even more puzzled, but Dark Magician Girl was grinning. "I guess you met our friend then, did you?"

Yugi groaned as he joined Malik in sitting against the wall. "Yeah. I must say, he has quite an interesting personality."

The monster nodded. "Well, yes, he is a bit odd… but then again, that's why we chose him. He volunteered to spy, since he wanted to take a look at the books anyway, and since he's something of a loner, no one would suspect him much anyway."

Yami looked back and forth between Dark Magician Girl, Yugi, and Malik. "Who are you talking about here?"

Yugi winked at him. "Sorry, Yami, but that's classified information. We wouldn't want to give away the identity of a spy, now would we? If you get caught and tortured, it might leak out. And you never know who might be listening!"

Yami groaned. "Yugi…"

Dark Magician Girl just laughed. "Can I see what he lent you?"

Yugi passed her the pile of stuff he and Malik had brought, and she winced under the weight. "Oof. Geez, did you guys grab the whole library?" She set the stuff on the ground and picked up the first scroll. "Advanced Dueling Techniques, boring… Strategies for the Masters, sounds like a _great_ read… How to Control That One Duel Monster That Never Takes Directions From You – hey, I resent that! Most of the time when we don't listen, there's a reason! Did you guys get anything _good_?"

Yugi shook his head apologetically. "Sorry, nothing that you might like. We were looking for things that might help us improve for when we fight Seth."

Yami looked interested. "Really? Let's see those…" He picked up one of the books, flipped to a random page, and started reading. After a quick glance at Malik, who was snoring as he leaned his head back against the wall, Yugi sweatdropped, shook his head, and followed Yami's example. A few minutes later, they were both completely absorbed in the ancient texts, while Dark Magician Girl stared down the hallway for signs of anyone approaching.

She didn't have long to wait. About ten minutes after Yugi and Malik had shown up, another pair of footsteps sounded. Tensing up, Dark Magician Girl slipped forward, coming to a stop in the entrance to the hallway. "Who goes there?"

"It's just us, DMG. Geez, calm down. You sound like one of those pompous castle guards." Marik and Gemini Elf walked into sight. Yami and Yugi glanced up from their reading materials and Malik woke up with a start, staring blearily at the new arrivals.

"Hey. So I take it you guys didn't find him either?"

Marik shook his head, taking a seat next to Malik. "Nope." He glanced around at the four already gathered and blinked. "Hey, where're Bakura and Chaos Mage? They should've gotten here before us, since we were one floor below them…"

Yami shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they lost track of time, maybe they got lost… anything could have happened." The other five were left to think about what "anything" could mean.

Yugi was the first to voice their concerns. "I hope they're alright…"

Marik snorted. "Knowing that tomb robber, they're probably more than 'alright.' Maybe they stopped to raid a treasure room along the way or something."

"Yeah… but if they don't show up in the next half-hour, we should go look for them."

Yami hesitated for a moment before he grumbled assent. Malik sent him a sideways glance, grinning. "Look at it this way, Yami: you can say we had to go on a mission to rescue _him_." Yami smiled slightly at the thought, and the group once again lapsed into silence. Marik picked up one of the scrolls, looked through it for a couple seconds, then set it down again, not interested. Malik stood up, walking to the top of the staircase behind them, and sat on the top step, watching the hallway for anything of interest.

It went on like this for about twenty-five minutes. Yami had long since set down the book and joined Gemini Elf in staring through the second-floor dungeon, waiting for Bakura. Marik had taken to pacing around the limited space they had at the bottom of the stairs. Yugi had kept one of the scrolls open and had taken out his deck and a few spare cards, adjusting it while taking occasional glances at the document. And there was still no sign of the tomb robber.

Four minutes after that, Malik came down the stairs again, staring down the hallway. "Still nothing?" he asked the others, who had by now clustered at the bottom of the staircase. They shook their heads, and he sighed. "Well, I guess that means-"

"Hey guys. Miss me?" A familiar white-haired head popped up from behind a corner, and all of them jumped.

"_Bakura_?"

"In the flesh," he replied, walking forward, followed by Chaos Mage. "Sorry we're late. We ran into a bit of trouble. Stupid Labyrinth Wall had us walking in circles. And you'll never guess who I picked up near Seth's card-burning room."

"Ow!" Following Chaos Mage was a large red dragon that, despite its size, was still halfway inside its shell. Ryu-Ran blinked at seeing the group gathered before him. "Oh. Hi. Hey kid, I think your friends are here."

"Hm?" The last of the four turned the corner and stopped suddenly, just looking at the six before him. His gaze traveled over the two Duel Monsters to rest on the humans (and spirits) behind them. "Oh. Hello, everyone."

Yugi, Yami, Malik, and Marik just stared at him, dumbstruck, for a few seconds before they reacted. "Ryou!"

The white-haired boy rolled his eyes. "Here we go again…"

As his friends swarmed around him, Ryou caught Bakura's smirk and rolled his eyes. The tomb robber just shrugged, trying his best not to burst out laughing. After answering all the "Ryou!" "Are you okay?" "Did Seth do anything to you?" "What happened?" "Did you find out anything useful?" and various other questions, he managed to separate himself from his overenthusiastic friends. Ryou waved his hands around frantically, trying to get them to calm down.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! I'll explain everything later, when we're out of the Shadow Realm. But do you mind explaining what you're doing here, how you got into Seth's castle, and who your friends are?"

Bakura draped an arm around his reincarnation's shoulders, grinning widely. "Rescuing you, of course. And we got in here using my tomb robber skills, of course." Yami and Marik rolled their eyes.

"Yeah right," Yugi muttered. Going through the introductions quickly, he also explained the whole plan, up to the point about what they had been planning to do after they rescued Ryou. When he finished, Ryou was frowning thoughtfully.

"So you used a distraction, and you're planning to battle Seth here in the Shadow Realm?" They nodded.

"We don't plan on this being our _final_ fight against him, of course," added Bakura. "But it will buy us some time to look around. We're supposed to receive the message on whether our help is needed or not in an hour or two, so we have all that time to explore and see if we can come up with anything else interesting.

"Hm… well, in that case, why don't we take a look at the last dungeon level before we go?" Ryou suggested. "We might even find Mokuba, and we could try to free him… and that would mean that Kaiba would owe us. He might even decide to help us fight Seth, and we could use his help…"

"Yes…" Yami seemed to be distracted, however, and wasn't listening too closely. He was too busy thinking of the prophecy, and a certain line that caught his mind at the moment. _'Hm… I wonder…'_ "Okay. We'll all go down to the last level and see if we can find anything interesting. It shouldn't take too long, with all of us together, so we'll still have time to make it to the upper levels of the castle and search those too."

With that decided, the ten of them headed to the last basement level, hoping to locate Mokuba or at least find something like the rooms on the other levels. Deciding quickly that it would be easiest and fastest to just search the whole place by themselves, they split up and took ten minutes to go through the whole level. Surprisingly enough, it was less mazelike than the four above it, which only helped to convince them further that this level wasn't used as often as the others, and judging from the number of skeletons lying on the ground, it hadn't been used in a while.

"Geez," Malik grumbled once they had all met up again. "There's… nothing _here_. No sign of anyone, nothing at all of interest… you'd think Seth wouldn't have wasted his time and money building this last level if there's nothing here."

"Well… there is one thing," Chaos Mage pondered. "The hidden cell, where there're probably holding Mokuba. The thing is, we left the blueprint for the castle back at the sanctuary, so we'll kind of have to guess where exactly it is…"

Ryou glanced at his watch and shrugged. "We have the time. And if it'll possibly help…" He looked at the others and they nodded. "Okay, we'll do it."

"Well then…" Yami led the way to the back of the dungeon, around to the wall where the hidden cell was supposedly located. He stopped right in front of it, looking around cluelessly before turning to the others. "So does anyone remember more about where it should be?"

"Directly across from the stairs," Bakura noted, moving forward so that he was standing next to the Pharaoh. For once, he chose not to insult Yami as he inspected the wall, moving slowly to the right. "There's got to be some clue that'll show us where the cell is…"

The others stared after him for a moment before Marik blinked. "Bakura, we'd like to help and all, but could you please tell us what we're supposed to be looking for?"

Bakura didn't even look at him. "Anything and everything unusual. If you think it could be a hint as to where Mokuba may be hidden, or even if you think it isn't, tell me and I'll check it out."

The humans and spirits sighed before moving over to the other side of the wall, leaving Bakura and his experience to check the left side. The monsters elected to stand guard and watch, deciding that it would be pointless to get in everyone else's way, since it was crowded enough over there as it was. Five minutes of silence passed by before Ryou spoke, causing most everyone to jump.

"Bakura… I think this counts as unusual," he murmured, running his hand over a section of the wall. "This part seems a bit different from the rest of the wall…"

"Really now?" the tomb robber asked, still studying his work. "And why do you think that?"

Yugi moved so that he was standing behind Ryou and frowned. "Actually… I agree. See how most of the stones that were used to build the wall are a bit jagged and rough? This part," he outlined a section of the wall with his hands, "is built of stones that are smoother than the others, for some reason or another. My guess is that they're moved by magic and stacked together somehow, so that when they're piled up, they fit together better."

"Let's see…" Finally interested, Bakura stood up from where he'd been leaning over a protruding piece of wall and walked over to where the two boys were. Peering over their shoulders, he let a triumphant grin break out over his face as he saw what they were looking at. "You know, I think you have something here. Good eyes, you two. Should I consider you thieves-in-training?"

Both teenagers sweatdropped. "Please no…" Yugi muttered so Bakura couldn't hear. Ryou nodded fervent agreement.

Luckily for them, the King of Thieves was too busy inspecting what they had found to hear. "Okay, let's try this…" he muttered, reaching to the side of the section of wall and placing his magic-detector spell on it. It spread over to the part in front of the cell, and Bakura watched it closely. "Okay, there's good news and bad news. The good news, there's no alarm on this section of the wall, so we can pretty much do anything at all we want with it and it won't alert Seth."

"And the bad news?" Marik asked. He, Yami, and Malik had walked over when they noticed the others crowded around what they had found. The monsters were still on wary guard, but they cast interested glances in the mortals' direction every now and then.

Bakura sighed. "The bad news is that it's completely impenetrable, by magic, force, or otherwise. There's a spell on it that's too complex to be dismantled by anyone except the person who created it, who, from the looks of it, wasn't Seth. My guess is that he's long dead. It's keyed into the person's magical signature, but if it detects a hint of anyone else's magic, it won't open. In other words…"

"There's no alarm, but we can't open it," finished Yami. "So what do you think we should do?"

Bakura quirked an eyebrow in his direction. "What, the great Pharaoh's giving up so easily? There's a loophole in everything, but we don't have the time to find it in this spell. So I guess we're stuck with simply communicating with whoever's on the other side. Would you like to do the honors?" Giving Yami a mock-bow, he backed out of the way.

Yami rolled his eyes but said nothing as he stepped forward. Creating what looked like a small tubule in his hand, he stuck the magic between two stones and moved back slightly, watching as the part on their side grew into a funnel. Slowly, they began to hear the sounds on the other side: soft, hiccupping sobs that grew louder the more time had passed.

Yugi was the one who spoke first. "Mokuba?" he asked quietly. "Is that you?"

A small yelp came from the other side, and the sobs stopped abruptly, the person obviously trying to stifle them. "Who's there? And what _is_ that thing?"

"We're friends," Yami explained. "And that's the thing we're using to talk around this wall. It's the same on our side, so this way, we can hear each other."

The voice was silent for a moment. "What makes you think we're friends?"

Malik chuckled wryly. "Easy. We're against Seth, we break into his castle, and find you in his top-security cell. I guess that would make you one of his enemies, so if we're both against him…" he trailed off.

The voice hesitated before speaking again. "I'm Mokuba. Mokuba Kaiba."

The others exchanged excited glances before Marik spoke up, sounding smug. "Well, I guess we were right. Hey, Mokuba, how long have you been in there?"

"I don't know. It's so dark that I kinda lost track of time…"

Bakura shrugged. "S'okay, kid. We don't blame you. So Seth's using you to get at Kaiba?"

"Unfortunately," Mokuba said sadly. "How's my brother doing? What's been going on out there?"

"Well, currently, they're not at home," Yami said dryly. "But knowing Seth, he's probably planning on using Kaiba's influence to help him control the outside world. And speaking of which… I'm sorry, but we won't be able to get you out of there. Seth has top security on this and even we can't break through."

Mokuba sighed deeply. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine for a little longer."

There was a long pause before Yugi spoke. "…Mokuba? How do _you_ feel about how all this is going?"

"What, Seth's plans and Seto's working for him and all?" The boy took a moment to think about that. "I don't like it one bit. I don't want Seto working for that creep, no matter what the reason."

"So what you're saying is…"

"Yeah. Even if Seth kills me, I'd like it better if Seto would forget about his protectiveness towards me for once and work against him. After all, I don't want him to be evil…"

"Then why don't you tell him that?" Ryou asked gently.

"I can't. Seth's always listening, and he'd convince Seto otherwise. I just wish there was some way I could help…"

"It's okay. You've already helped us," Yugi murmured. "We have to go now, but if we find any way of breaking you out of here, we'll come back and get you out, I promise."

"Thanks. I'll take your word on that… but just tell me one thing before you leave. You're the Pharaoh and his friends, aren't you?" the boy asked curiously.

Yami chuckled. "Yes, indeed. We're sorry you had to get dragged into this, Mokuba. We'll be back to help when we find a way."

Though they couldn't see it, Mokuba smiled, the first time he had smiled in a week. "All right. But you have to go do other stuff now, right? Well then, go get 'em!"

"We will, Mokuba. We will," Bakura laughed, right before he cut off the link. He turned to the others, his smile fading. "Come on. We've still got a bit of time before the battle reports come in, so what do you say we check out if Seth has anything else interesting in this castle of his?"

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"Remind me just _why_ we had to crash that car?" Tristan mumbled, distinctly annoyed. "Now we have to walk back!"

"Hey, would you rather have hit Isis?" Joey retorted. "At least this way, no one's dead!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever. And remind me just who it was that was driving that car?"

"Let's see you do better when everything's in a panic!"

"Well, I at least would've _tried_ to keep my cool!"

"Next time, you get to drive!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

The two glared at each other before crossing their arms and looking away, huffing angrily. It was at that moment that the remaining non-destroyed TV screens across the city lit up.

"Attention all residents of Domino City: we are entering a state of emergency and ask you to please seek safe refuge in a nearby public building, your house, or any other closed structure which will provide you with possible protection from further monster attacks. We repeat, please seek refuge in a closed structure that will provide protection from these monsters. We also ask you to refrain from panicking-" here Tristan shot Joey a pointed look, which the blond ignored, "-and would like you to lock all doors, windows, and possible entrance. And to conserve electricity for fighting against these monsters-" here both teens rolled their eyes, "-we ask you to please turn off all unnecessary appliances during this time. This is the Domino City Police Force, and we thank you for your consideration." The TV screens blinked off as abruptly as they had turned on, presumably "to conserve electricity."

"How do they figure that saving energy would help them fight the monsters?" Tristan wondered idly. "Considering it's been _us_ fighting them this whole time. What do they expect to do, recharge our batteries or something?"

Joey snorted, possibly in agreement, before a thought struck him. "…Tristan?"

"What?"

"…I don't see any remaining structures standing that could 'serve as possible shelter in the event of another monster attack.' "

Tristan took a look around and figured out that his friend was right. "Great. So what do we do now?"

Joey sent him a sideways grin. "Summon flying monsters, ride them all over the city, and scare everyone out of their wits?"

Tristan sent him a similar smirk. "Hm, there's an idea."

But before either of them could do something they might regret, a police car turned the corner and headed straight towards them. The two teenagers just kept walking, watching as it slowed down considerably until it stopped and pulled up next to them. The guy in the driver's seat rolled down his window and leaned towards them. "Hey, you two!"

Tristan sent him an "I'm so tired of you adults acting like you know better than us about what to do in this situation" look. "What is it now?"

"Didn't you hear the announcement? You're supposed to be inside, taking shelter from the monsters!"

Joey sighed before giving the policeman a glare. "One, in case you haven't noticed, there _is_ no shelter around here. Two, we're the ones who've been _fighting_ the monsters. I doubt you've done much to help, so you're in no position to tell us what to do."

"Is that insubordination, young man?"

"You bet it is!"

"He doesn't mean that," Tristan interjected hurriedly. "I apologize for my friend's behavior. Look, we were out here when the announcement came, so we don't really have anywhere to go. So could we get a ride to someplace?"

The policeman considered that for a moment. "I guess. But where is it that you want to go, exactly?"

The two climbed quickly into the back. "Domino High, if you don't mind, sir," Tristan instructed. "Is the investigation on the dragon – I mean, the source of the explosion – still underway?"

"I believe so," he said slowly. "Do you two know anything about it?"

Joey draped his arms over the back of the passenger seat. "Yeah, but the guys there wouldn't listen to us. But I guess they might now, seeing as there are Duel Monsters popping up left and right now…"

"True," the man said thoughtfully. "But how did you get from the school to way out here?"

Joey and Tristan exchanged glances. "Well, ah, there was a friend of ours who had his driver's license, and his car happened to be at the school," Tristan lied quickly. "Um… he drove us out here, trying to get us to his home, but the car broke down halfway there and we kinda had to walk… except he decided to go home, while we were heading for the school."

"_Literally_ broke down," Joey mumbled under his breath so the policeman couldn't hear. He received a sharp elbow to the ribs for his comment.

They were at the school ten minutes later, and Joey and Tristan viewed the scene before them with pure glee. The somewhat-organized scene that they had left a few hours earlier had erupted into total chaos. A section of the field near the lunch area had been roped off, and upon closer inspection, was home to what was obviously a dragon footprint. Another footprint, about fifty feet in front of it and facing the opposite direction, was also under inspection, along with a long trail that started maybe ten feet away that was the imprint of the tail of Yugi's Blue-Eyes. Some hysterical students had returned to the school, and Joey could barely hear one girl shouting, "It was a dragon, I tell you! A dragon! Two Blue-Eyes White Dragons, right here! That's what did this!" as she gestured to the demolished soccer field, the other students nodding fervent agreement. And best of all, Officer I-Think-You-Boys-Should-Be-Locked-Up was lying forgotten on one of the cafeteria tables, still unconscious.

Trying to stifle laughter, the two teenagers strode over to where the other students were being questioned and Tristan cleared his throat. "I think we have more to add to their story," he said calmly. "Well, what happened was…"

Joey soon grew bored of hearing Tristan's elaborate account of what happened, wandering off to watch the police at their work. "That's where the Blue-Eyes' tail swept," he told one woman, nodding sagely as she stared at him like he was crazy. Moving over to the crater of a soccer field, he viewed it impassively, letting out a soft whistle. "Man. That'll cost the school a fortune in damages," he said casually to the people who were nosing around it. Turning to go bother someone else, he was just in time to notice another police car pulling up and a young man come racing out to talk to the person who seemed to be in charge of the whole operation, a woman who was standing only a few feet away.

"There's a report of another attack," he gasped, and Joey was instantly alert. "It happened in one of the suburbs, a few miles north of here. Apparently, it appeared only about ten minutes ago and now it's wreaking havoc on the city… heading for Domino…"

"What monster?" Joey snapped, pushing past the woman to address the messenger. The policeman blinked, obviously wondering what this teenager thought he was doing, and Joey repeated his question. "_What monster is it?_"

The man shook himself out of it. "I don't know. The report didn't specify. But…" he hesitated.

"But what?" Joey demanded. "There's no time for this. What is it?"

The man lowered his eyes. "I'm no expert on Duel Monsters, but from the description, I'd say it was a Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon."

"Big and red, two heads, two mouths, and greenish claws?"

"That's it."

Joey nodded sharply. "Got it. We're off, then. Tristan!"

Upon getting no answer, Joey looked over to where his friend was and mushroom-sighed. Tristan was having entirely too much fun describing the incident, complete with hand-gestures and all. Stalking over there, Joey grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged the other boy back to where he'd been before. "Stop imitating Jack Sparrow and get over here! We're needed!"

"Ow ow ow! What is it?"

Joey finally let go of Tristan's shirt and turned to face him. "Another monster, in the suburbs north of here. A Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon."

Tristan's eyes shone in anticipation. "Tougher than anything we've ever faced before?"

Joey grinned. "Oh yes. 2800 attack, almost as strong as a Blue-Eyes."

"Well, count me in!"

"Great." Joey turned back to the policeman who had delivered the message, who was currently giving the two boys strange looks. He spotted the keys in the man's hand and reached out to grab them, racing to the police car. "Hey, can I borrow these? Thanks! I promise to return them later!"

"What – Hey, get back here!"

Tristan was hot on Joey's heels as they reached the car, and he shoved him away from the driver's side door just in time. "You said I got to drive the next time!"

"Fine, fine," Joey grumbled as he tossed the keys to Tristan and vaulted over the hood. "Just don't forget to turn on the lights and sirens!"

And that was how the two of them ended up speeding through the streets of Domino City at 100 mph, police lights on and sirens blaring as they headed towards their next target.

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Seiyaryu yelped loudly as a Whiptail Crow, a little faster than the others, dove past her, clipping one of her wings as it did so. "Hey, that _hurt!_" She fired a Razor Flare Blast at the monster and kept going, using the adrenaline rush from the raid to fly faster than she ever had before. She spared a quick glance at her companion. "Hey Wing, how're you doing?"

The fairy was breathing a little harder than usual as she replied, "I'm okay, so far, but we can't keep this up for much longer."

"Well, then it's a good thing the battlefield's right up ahead!" Seiyaryu yelled.

"What? Where?" Wingweaver looked ahead just long enough to get pummeled in the side by another monster. "Ow!" It took half a second to blast it into oblivion, and she winced slightly.

Beside her, Seiyaryu chuckled slightly. "That's gonna leave a bruise."

Wingweaver shot her a glare. "Shut up, baka dragon."

"Fine, fine… you could ask nicely, you know."

"Just pay attention!" Wingweaver sighed. "We're almost there."

Seiyaryu glanced up ahead, where the chosen place of battle was about half a mile ahead. "Actually, the first line of defense should be kicking in right… about… now."

"What first line of defense?" The fairy needn't have asked, as it happened right after Seiyaryu had finished speaking. As if on cue, a single Kuriboh popped up and squeaked a greeting to the two monsters in passing. They shot by him quickly, and Wingweaver looked puzzled. "_That's_ your brilliant defense?"

Seiyaryu laughed. "You can slow down now, Wing. It'll take Seth's monsters a while to get past Kuri."

"What?" But Wingweaver slowed down anyway. As idiotic as Seiyaryu was sometimes, she at least knew how to make a plan that worked, but carrying it out was another thing entirely. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw nothing but a single puffball in the path of a bunch of angry, rampaging monsters. "Seiyaryu, that Kuriboh's going to get killed!"

Seiyaryu took a quick glance in that direction herself. "Wait for it… I'd say give it a couple more seconds."

"There _are_ no more seconds to spare!"

It is a well-known fact that, in the canon _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ universe, Seto Kaiba has never been too fond of Kuribohs. Ever since Yugi used his little friends to stop the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon's attack, and later, that of Obelisk, Kaiba hasn't really liked our favorite fuzzy Duel Monster. And because Seth is Seto Kaiba's previous incarnation, and has had to deal with the same puffballs in the exact same duels, he isn't a Kuriboh-lover either. And so, in my opinion, any and every version of Seto Kaiba in any and every version of the YGO universe that exists hates Kuriboh with a passion. This version of Seth is no exception, which is why the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the mortal enemy of both the Dark Magician and Kuriboh, moved forward and took it upon itself to get rid of this small – well, _extremely_ small, in comparison to itself – obstacle in its path.

Now, Kuribohs aren't exactly the best attack monsters in Duel Monsters, since they self-destruct upon impact. But as defenders… well, following that line of thinking, you can guess what happens next.

"_Seiyaryu!_" Wingweaver yelled as the White Lightning attack sped towards Kuriboh. It was at that point that Seiyaryu started laughing manically, though no one at that point quite understood why, with the exception of Kuriboh himself. And just as the attack was about to slam into him, the single squeaking furball split into two, and those two split into four… eight… sixteen… thirty-two… okay, enough with the powers of two. But when the attack finally connected with where the single Kuriboh had been floating before, it did almost nothing, except eliminate four of the two hundred fifty-six puffballs that now formed a virtual wall in front of Seth's army.

Needless to say, the Blue-Eyes was not happy. It roared in frustration, the Kuribohs squeaked happily, and Seiyaryu rolled with laughter in midair as they continued flying towards their destination – or at least, she was until Wingweaver bonked her upside the head. She straightened herself quickly, glaring at the fairy. "What was that for?"

"_That_ was for letting me think you'd be dumb enough to send a single Kuriboh against the beginnings of Seth's army and call it your 'first line of defense!' Don't do that again!"

Seiyaryu just looked at her friend innocently. "What, come up with a genius plan?"

Wingweaver rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. "How did you manage to get hold of a Multiply card anyway? And where did you put it?"

Seiyaryu grinned. "I asked Yami if I could borrow it. Once we'd decided on the battlefield, he set it facedown and gave control of when to activate it to me."

One of Wingweaver's eyebrows twitched spasmodically. "Seiyaryu… one second later…"

The dragon laughed nervously. "…Let's not think about that, shall we?"

"DON'T cut it that close AGAIN!"

Seiyaryu recoiled slightly in fear. "Okay, okay, I won't. But still, it worked rather well, don't you think?"

Wingweaver glanced behind them, where a solid wall of Kuribohs was preventing the flying monsters from passing. "Yeah, I'll give you that much," she grumbled. "But it's only temporary. It'll just delay them a bit."

"I know… but we could use that bit of time for some last-minute planning. What do you say, Wing?"

The fairy sighed. "I say we use all the time we can get. We have to come up with a brilliant strategy, or else we'll get slaughtered out there."

"We might get slaughtered even if we _do_ come up with an awesome plan," Seiyaryu muttered, then grinned. "Ah well. All in the fun of being a rebel, right?"

Wingweaver smirked. "Not just any rebel. _Seth's_ rebels. That's gotta count for something."

"Yeah… we need badges. And a theme song. Can't forget a theme song."

Despite the situation, Wingweaver couldn't help but smile. "Later, Seiyaryu. Right now we need to form a plan."

"Oh. Right. A plan." And the two of them descended to the battlefield, Seiyaryu humming the whole way.

As soon as they landed, they walked over to the rock that served as a makeshift table for the battle plan. In the background, a Hinotama Soul hovered, ready to destroy the evidence at any time. Wingweaver took a deep breath before she stopped, studying the map of the terrain. "Okay. What've we got so far?"

* * *

And… there you go, the next chapter of ESD (happy smile)! Sorry it's a little later than usual, but it's summer and I decided to work on it… well, I have a bunch of fics I'm working on at the moment, so you can expect the next update about two weeks from now. And if you haven't already told me whether you're okay with Seto/Isis in this story, I still want opinions… oh, and is anyone else going to the Comic Con? Just wondering…

REVIEWS, pleasie! Reviewers will be glomped, loved forever, and will receive Starburst (trademark doesn't belong to me!) from my sugar stash! Flamers will be sent to attempt to burn down Seth's castle! Have fun… it's made of stone…


	13. The Priest, the Castle, and the Thunder ...

A/N: Chapter twelve and a heck of a lot of writer's block. Sorry this is a bit late, but I have about zero free time right now, mostly because of a lot of studying plus camp stuff. I have the parts after the next chapter planned out, but it's these two chapters where I'm having a bit of trouble, partly because I don't have details down. . Anyway, getting off the topic of _my_ problems, Starburst™ goes to hobbit13 and Silvershadowfire. Silvershadowfire, thanks for pointing that out… I would've forgotten all about that if you hadn't mentioned it. (sweatdrops) Well, I have that part figured out now, at least, but it's coming later. I'm bored and in a Kuriboh-ish mood (due to all his appearances in the last chapter, this one, and maybe next), so anyone who's ever reviewed and ever will gets a chibi-Kuriboh plushie! KAWAII! (glomps them) Ahem… anyway, on to the story! Oh yes, and on a technical note, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon is actually a Thunder monster, but I call it a dragon because that's the form it takes.

Disclaimer: _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ not mine. For one, I don't even speak Japanese, apart a few random nouns from fanfics, song lyrics, and _Fushigi Yuugi_, which I don't own either. Now, YGO is an anime. "Anime" is most commonly defined as "Japanese animation." You have to know Japanese to create a Japanese animation. Therefore, because I do not speak Japanese, I can't create a Japanese animation, which means I can't have created YGO… and I don't own it, either. Neither do I own the other anime character that gets mentioned in this chapter, just because I love him so. I bet you all hate that math class I took that taught logic right about now.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Twelve

The Priest, the Castle, and the (Thunder) Dragon

"And the players are all here," Seth murmured, watching the little gathering from his perch on a rock ledge half a mile away. "Or at least, the starting players are. The Pharaoh and his friends will be showing up soon enough after we get the battle started."

"And what if they wreck your entire castle first?" Kaiba asked dryly. "They might decide to completely obliterate your base before they come and fight you."

Seth shrugged. "They won't. They've already discovered where I keep your precious brother, and the Pharaoh's too soft to kill any civilians just to put me at a slight disadvantage. And besides," he smirked, "It took a few millennia to build that castle. It'll take more than an hour to pull it down."

"That's what you think," Kaiba grumbled, turning back to where the rebels were planning what to do next.

Seth shot him a slightly amused, slightly annoyed glance. "You sound almost as if you _want_ them to tear down my fortress. But that would kill little Mokuba, and we'd be spending more time in the unprotected reaches of the Shadow Realm. Your mind wouldn't be able to handle the pressure if it didn't have somewhere to rest."

When Kaiba didn't answer, the priest decided that he had given up and disappeared off to ready the few ground troops that were already there for battle. He wasn't exactly sure _what_ it was he wanted at this point, other then that he was beginning to hate Seth with a passion and that he wanted Mokuba free of the castle – but at this point, getting revenge on Seth and freeing his brother didn't seem very likely. As for Yugi and his friends, if they did decide to destroy Seth's fortress, it would kill Mokuba, but that would mean that Seth no longer had anything to control him with, and he would once again be free to do as he pleased. He loved his brother dearly, but there were times when you had to make sacrifices for the greater good. Mokuba would understand that – wouldn't he?

_'But you promised to always protect him,'_ Kaiba reminded himself. Well, protecting him was one thing, but if Mokuba would be disappointed in his brother because of the lengths he'd go to just to reach that goal… would it be worth it? But what _was_ worth it? Now that everything logical had been turned upside-down, all there was left to go on was emotion. Seto Kaiba was not very well-known for being emotional, and so this was one choice where he'd rather wait and see how it turned out.

Sighing, Kaiba pulled himself away from that train of thought and followed Seth towards the army, where the monsters that had left the castle were gathered. The leaders of the divisions shot him annoyed and critical looks as he approached, and, changing his mind quickly, Seto decided that it would be a better idea to stay away for the time being. Sitting down on a small, rocky outcropping, he wondered for a brief moment why Seth's army didn't trust him, when as much as he hated to admit it, he was the priest's reincarnation. Had his squabbles with Seth really been that obvious? Still, they had to tolerate him, since Seth had decided that he was "instrumental in the Pharaoh's defeat and will be useful in the near future." But that didn't mean he had to tolerate them… Kaiba wondered for a split second how many of Seth's own army he could kill without being caught, but he dismissed the thought almost as soon as it came. He had yet to see the former high priest well and truly mad, and he had a feeling that it wouldn't be pleasant.

Seeing his reincarnation sitting alone and away from the army, Seth's interest peaked and he walked over to where the modern-day teenager was sitting. "Why so sad, Seto? Surely you can't be worried about the battle, and I already told you, the Pharaoh wouldn't dare hurt your precious brother. So what's bothering you?"

"Your monsters don't trust me," the boy grumbled. "I have a feeling they'll stab me in the back as soon as they get the chance."

"I can assure you, the feeling's mutual," Seth said proudly. "But they won't hurt you. You're too valuable for that."

"Hn." Kaiba smirked inwardly. If he was too valuable to be disposed of, that meant he could do practically anything he wanted and get away with it, and they couldn't kill Mokuba for fear of losing _him_. _'Watch out, Seth. Your "tool" has a mind of its own, and I plan on bending your pathetic rules as much as I can.'_

* * *

"See? At least _I_ can drive without hitting anyone!"

"Yeah, well, you're driving a police car with the sirens on," Joey grumbled. "If they're smart, people get out of the way. And besides, I didn't hit anyone…"

"No, you _nearly_ hit about twenty people," amended Tristan. "And if they aren't smart?"

"Well, then, you'll hit them, of course. And you can't blame it on me." Joey peered forward, his brow creased as he searched. "Do you see that Duel Monster yet?"

Tristan took a quick glance and shook his head, returning his attention to the road. "No, but we'll probably see it soon enough, if it's as big as the ones we saw back in Domino."

"True… but the guy didn't really give us specific directions…" Joey returned to fiddling with the radio systems, trying to see if there was anything interesting or reports of other monster attacks. "Yugi said that the first monster that appeared was in the schoolyard, and then there were a few more… the Vorse Raider in the park that was in the news, the Bracchio-Radius that appeared in front of the apartment building where I live, and then the Blue-Eyes and the rest of the monsters today. But the weird thing is, I heard rumors that there was another one. It appeared in Kaiba Corp., and that's why it was closed, even before Mokuba disappeared and Kaiba decided to work with Seth."

"Well, that's obvious," Tristan replied dryly. "If he was working with Seth, then psycho priest-boy wouldn't have one of his monsters attack one of his ally's properties. That would only get Kaiba mad, and Seth probably couldn't afford that."

"Yeah…" Joey lapsed into silence. "But what's weird is that all the attacks have been in Domino City so far, and this is the farthest one that's happened so far. I mean that it's not even _in_ Domino."

"Well, that's a strange coincidence," Tristan agreed. "But we can't expect to be lucky all the time and just have to run around the city to fight these monsters. We should consider ourselves lucky that all the attacks so far have been in Japan. But that's what's been bugging me. Isn't it a little _too_ convenient that all this has been happening where we are, when this whole mess started in ancient _Egypt_? Shouldn't it be the people there who have to deal with these things? Instead, the Duel Monsters are appearing halfway around the world, in Domino City. What's going on here that has them appearing here instead of anywhere else?"

"It may have started in Egypt, but everyone who was there was reincarnated into modern-day Japan," Joey reminded him. "Maybe it has something to do with where we are."

"Maybe…" Tristan fell silent for a second before he squinted. "Hey, is that what I think it is?"

Joey looked in the same direction and a grin slowly spread over his face. "I think so. After all, when was the last time you saw a two-headed dragon as part of the skyline of a normal city?"

Tristan grinned and sped up. "Well, finally. Remind me to tell you to ask for more specific directions next time. And make sure you listen to the radio, in case the police find out about any more attacks. If you're ready, let's go take down that Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!"

* * *

"All right…" Wingweaver mumbled as she studied the map in front of her. "So the terrain's relatively flat, but that can be changed easily enough. We'll need to have some cover if we're going to be attacking from the sides, so we need to create trenches here and here," she outlined sections of the map. "Seiyaryu and I will take care of that from the air, but we _have_ to make it seem casual. They can't think that it's part of our plan, so we have to make it seem like the trenches are accidents while we were trying to attack either the ground or flying army. The thing is, the aiming has to be precise; monsters will be slightly farther, and they'll move forward to enter the trenches. If our aim is off, we might end up blasting our own allies."

"That'd be smart," Seiyaryu piped up. "It might take them quite a while to get past all the Kuribohs, so we'll use them as part of the defense line around the back of the battlefield, and also to float around and provide assistance where needed. They can provide a distraction for the Blue-Eyes and defend our monsters, since there are now so many of them that they can be used as individual protectors, as well as making a wall where we can back up and regroup if needed. We can also use it to slip behind if we need to tend to injuries or anything like that. Injection Fairy Lily and a few others will be in the back to help." The said monsters, magic, and traps nodded.

"There will also be a few traps scattered around, here, here, and here," Wingweaver continued. "There will be a Dark Hole in this section, so I suggest everyone stay far, far away. Some Equip Magic and Quick-Play cards will also be facedown around here, for whomever gets to them first. Graceful Dice and Skull Dice are both set over here, for the weaker monsters to have a better chance. Those will be activated about half an hour after the battle starts, so if you want a quick power boost and better odds, I suggest you go over there, but try not to make it seem like everyone's going over there at the same time to take advantage of it. There will be a Change of Heart here, and also a Brain Control over here, to help take care of the more powerful monsters. We only have two, so make them count. Make sure that, if one is being used to take control of an enemy monster, there's another enemy with the same attack, so we can destroy them both and get rid of two powerful threats at the same time."

Seiyaryu traced one claw over the map thoughtfully. "We have a few Magicians of Faith on our side, and they'll be spread out for maximum effectiveness of the magic cards. We also have some Monster Reborn, Call of the Haunted, Premature Burial, and so on and so forth cards at our disposal, but they're to be used sparingly. We don't want to stretch our resources too far. Also, we only have two Masks of Darkness, so if you can, try to get them into a strategic position to set more traps and protect them if at all possible. We have a Mirror Force over here, to take care of part of the second half of the army, and a Magic Cylinder down here, to take out a lot of them at the same time. Make sure you don't use them unless it's an emergency or the best opportunity we can get."

"Okay, as you know, we've all been separated into divisions: two of the stronger monsters at the head of each of four columns, with five slightly weaker monsters under them, and everyone else under them. One group will be attacking straight ahead, two others from the sides, and the last one consists of the flying monsters, who will be attacking Seth's airborne army and also shooting down some of the enemies from above. We're not going to bother blocking them off from the back, as we're outnumbered three to one anyway, and we don't necessarily need to completely slaughter them."

"And last of all," Seiyaryu finished, "we have our little messengers, the Key Maces. In an hour or so, ten of you will head out to Seth's castle and search for the Pharaoh and his friends. You'll tell them how it's going over here, and they can decide if they want to help or continue doing… whatever it is they're doing."

"All right, anything else we need to get cleared up?" Wingweaver asked. No one answered, so she took that as a "no." "Fine. Everyone in their positions! Dancing Elf, you give the Kuribohs the signal to withdraw and form the walls. Key Maces, spread out around the battlefield, but make sure to stay out of the fighting. All flying monsters, spread out behind the other three armies, and take wing at our signal. Monsters with attack under five hundred will be grouped into fives and can use combined attacks to take down enemies. Let's go!"

They separated quickly, Wingweaver and Seiyaryu going off to instruct the flying monsters while others went to give the army heads their instructions. As an afterthought, Seiyaryu came back and destroyed the map with their battle plan before leaving again, completely defeating the purpose of the hovering Hinotama's Soul, who looked confused for a moment before going off to join the army that would advance straight ahead, lead by a Cosmo Queen and Gyakutenno Megami. The other three divisions took their places, two on either side of the battlefield and one behind the healers. Dancing Elf flew off towards the solid, fuzzy wall about half a mile ahead of them to tell the Kuribohs to get ready, and Wingweaver and Seiyaryu took off, leaving the other flying monsters on the ground slightly behind them, and hovered above the middle of the battlefield for a moment, surveying the troops.

"There's a bit of a slope up there, where Seth's army's coming from," Seiyaryu noted. "That'll help. We have most of the archers in the first group, right?"

Wingweaver nodded distractedly. "Yes, behind those monsters that are attacking on foot. The ones that hover or ride on something, horses or otherwise, are in the ones on the sides."

"And of course, we have control of the ones with wings and that can actually fly," the dragon mused. "Actually, this could be fun."

Wingweaver shot her a sharp look. "Don't let your guard down. This isn't a game."

Seiyaryu rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah, I know. Some of the healers will join in later, though, won't they?"

"Yes…" Wingweaver answered. "Come on, the Kuribohs are separating. Let's get ready."

The two moved off to opposite sides of the field, just floating in the air as they waited for the first of the opposing monsters to reach them. It didn't take long, and the tension in the air was almost thick enough for a Celtic Guardian to slice through. A couple of the fuzzballs floated in Wingweaver's direction, and she quickly ordered them to the back, where they started forming a loose wall in front of the healers. Two of them stayed in the air, one floating aside Wingweaver and the other resting on Seiyaryu's back. It squeaked out a question to her and she blinked.

"Oh… almost forgot." She flew to the back, over the rapidly multiplying Kuribohs, and deposited a large glass ball in front of Dian Keto the Cure Master. It looked slightly similar to the crystal ball that the magic card held, and she sent a questioning glance at the dragon. Seiyaryu shrugged. "Just a little something I picked up at Seth's castle. Take good care of it; I'm sure the Pharaoh and his friends will be interested. Whatever you do, _don't_ let Seth get it back. I think it's a little too valuable for him to have it."

Dian Keto turned it over in her hands curiously. "What is it?"

Seiyaryu shrugged. "A scrying glass of a sort. It looks into the real world. Don't ask me, but I think Seth needs it. It was near Seth's personal rooms, so it's probably important. Just make sure nothing happens to it." The Kuriboh by her shoulder squeaked, and Seiyaryu yelped. "What, they're that close already? Sorry, but I have to go. Need to be in place in time for the first stage of the plan, ya know." With that said, she unfurled her wings and launched into the sky, heading for her designated spot with Kuriboh trailing behind at a distance.

As soon as she was in place, Wingweaver gave her a glare from the other side of the field, obviously asking, "What were you doing down there?" Seiyaryu just ignored her and focused on the approaching army. The first of the monsters were already advancing, and she winced as she noticed the very large and very angry Blue-Eyes White Dragon headed their way, death-glaring all the cute, fuzzy Kuribohs that were on the field, and there were quite a few of those. Seiyaryu glanced at the one on her back and asked quietly, "You ready for this?" Kuriboh cooed an affirmative and split into two, so that there was now a fuzzball on each of the dragon's shoulders. She turned her attention forward, to both the flying army and, farther away, the monsters on foot. Seiyaryu frowned slightly, sure that there must be some traps in there too. Oh well, no time to do anything about that now. Wingweaver sent her the signal, and she beat her wings a little harder, rising farther up, higher than most of Seth's monsters.

The Blue-Eyes sent a disdainful glance downwards in the direction of the rest of the army and snorted disdainfully, obviously unimpressed with the rebels. Seiyaryu had to suppress a smirk; Seth's prized monster would learn soon enough what they were made of. Just a little more… and the first of the winged monsters flew onto the battlefield. Unable to contain her excitement, Seiyaryu let loose a Razor Flare Blast at the vanguard. It bounced off the Blue-Eyes' plated chest, but other monsters weren't as lucky. Though Seiyaryu didn't see it, Wingweaver shot her an exasperated look. It wasn't the right time quite yet.

The fairy also watched as the first of the army advanced, and calculated when would be the best time to blast the ground. Soon enough, the flying monsters were swarming around them, and Wingweaver had to fly continuously to avoid their attacks and let off a few blasts of her own. Right about now… rising above the rest of the flying monsters with some difficulty, Wingweaver glanced at the ground and gauged the distance. When she figured out where the best place would be to create the trench, she powered her attack up to full strength and fired off a long blast that annihilated at least twenty monsters in its path and made a deep score in the ground, perfect for their purposes. Out of the corner of her eye, Wingweaver saw Seiyaryu doing the same thing, and she couldn't help but smile. Backing out of the chaos quickly, she flew towards the back and let out a long whistle – the signal for the airborne rebels to take off and for the rest of the army to charge. The timing couldn't have been better – it was at that moment that the first of ground army started charging down the slope, and soon enough, the sharp flits of arrows cutting through the air was heard as the archers fired. As soon as Seth's monsters reached flat ground, the monsters on foot rushed forward, followed by those with some sort of mount. And with many loud clashes, shrieks, and yells of rage, the battle was joined.

* * *

The police car plummeted towards the dragon at about 100 mph before taking an exit ramp that would adjust their position a little. Tristan didn't even bother to slow down as he took the left turn, jerking the wheel quickly as they sped off in the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon's direction. Joey was fiddling with the radio, too busy trying to find any reports of attacks on either news stations or closed police channels to complain that Tristan was as bad a driver as he was. As they grew closer, however, and Tristan swerved down a side-street, they fell into the monster's shadow and the blond looked up and whistled. "That's got to be one of the biggest Duel Monsters we've seen so far – not counting the Blue-Eyes, of course."

Tristan nodded silent agreement. "Hold on tight!" Another turn brought them onto the road that the dragon was devastating, and the brunette didn't decelerate until they were about fifty feet from the crimson monster. Tristan wrenched the wheel to the right quickly at the same time as he hit the brakes, and the car skidded to the side with a screeching of tires, leaving the smell of burnt rubber hanging in the air. The sirens didn't go off until Tristan yanked the keys out of the ignition as he stepped out of the car, Joey exiting out of the other side at the same time. All the noise had caught the Thunder Dragon's attention, and it was staring balefully at them, apparently debating whether to slam them into the nearest wall with its tail or simply blast them into oblivion.

Joey grinned and waved cheerfully at the monster, choosing to ignore the way it was looking at them: as if it had just found its next meal. "Hello up there. Nice day, isn't it?" The dragon simply looked confused. This was obviously the first time its victims had decided to talk to it. "Well, now that the niceties are over, I have a question for you. If you'll be so kind to tell us, are you by chance one of Seth's monsters?" The Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon bent so that it was (somewhat) at eye level and nodded.

Tristan gave it as much of a kind smile as he could manage. "We thought so. Well then, we have a present for you." The monster eyed them curiously, and both boys reached into their pockets and pulled out their decks.

"Rocket Warrior!" Joey yelled. "Invincible Mode! Attack!" The little machine changed into its green missile form and shot towards the Thunder Dragon, where its attack did almost nothing. The dragon merely gave it a scornful look before swatting it away with one claw, where it flew through the air before it righted itself and started floating above a building. The move did some good, however, as the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon lost 500 attack points, due to Rocket Warrior's special effect. (Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon: ATK 2300, DEF 2100)

The monster snorted in annoyance, but before it could blast away the Rocket Warrior, the boys, or both, Tristan made his move. "I'll sacrifice Joey's Rocket Warrior to summon Sword Hunter!" (Sword Hunter: ATK 2450, DEF 1700) "Destroy the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!" The warrior obeyed with alacrity, pulling out two of his many swords and dashing at his opponent. The dragon stayed for a moment before its body shattered into a million pieces and it let out a last, pained shriek.

Joey grinned, folding his hands behind his head as he walked towards his friend. "Score another one for the Pharaoh's team! Is it just me, or are these fights getting a lot easier?"

Tristan was staring past Joey and barely heard what he said. "If you ask me, that one was just a little _too_ easy…"

"Huh?" Joey turned around to see a huge, grayish claw poke up out of the asphalt, causing cracks to run down the entire road. He and Tristan backed up a few steps as it was followed by another claw, then two rotting arms, the flesh barely hanging on to them, and then a head – or rather, two heads. The two heads of a Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon. "…Uh oh."

"A Call of the Haunted card!" Tristan gasped, just as the now-undead dragon pulled the rest of its body out of the street, causing half the pavement to uproot itself and big chunks of the street to fall everywhere. It let out a long breath, the corrosiveness of it melting a nearby streetlamp, before it turned to the Sword Hunter. Tristan's monster let out a slight gulp as it stumbled backwards, and the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon had a cruel grin on its face as it got ready for another breath.

Joey was ready for it, though. As the dragon let out another blast of air, he whipped a card out of his deck and held it up. _"Kunai with Chain!"_

Sword Hunter's attack power shot up to 3150, enough to beat a Blue-Eyes and more than enough to take down the Thunder Dragon – or so they thought. The warrior cut through the acid mist easily and also sliced into its opponent, cleaving its head in two. Before either of the boys could celebrate, however, the head reformed, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon grew bigger, and they had an even tougher problem on their hands.

"Call of the Haunted…" Tristan thought for a moment before its effect came to him. "Joey! Attacking will only make it stronger! Each time it's destroyed, it comes back with an attack power that's twenty percent higher!" (Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon: ATK 3360, DEF 0)

"Okay… any _other_ side effects I should know about before wasting any more trap cards?" the blond growled, watching as Sword Hunter narrowly dodged all the attacks the dragon was sending at him, only to be thrown into the air and hit the ground hard when the other monster swung its tail.

"It's a zombie now, and zombies are nearly invincible. There are only two major weaknesses that I know of, and that's that it has a defense power of zero and Call of the Haunted is an equip trap, so that when either it or the monster it's equipped to is destroyed, the other is too."

"Yeah, well, do you have anything that can do either?" Joey demanded, summoning up a Chasm of Spikes just in time to stop the Thunder Dragon from jumping on them and chomping their heads off. He watched it thrash around in the abyss for a moment before glancing back at his friend. _"Well?"_

"Actually, this should be easy, if you use one of your cards that's already in play…" Tristan answered. A slow grin played across Joey's face as he nodded. Glad that the other teenager got the idea, he turned back to the battle. "Sword Hunter! Attack!"

The warrior turned to look at his master, a look on his face that plainly said, "Are you crazy? That thing has a higher attack power!" As Tristan yelled confirmation of the command, Sword Hunter shook his head and mushroom-sighed, obviously wishing that he'd never come into the possession of such a nutcase. But since there wasn't much he could do about it anyway, he turned back to the dragon and lunged forward, swords at the ready. The Thunder Dragon had the same look of utter disbelief on its face, too, but it recovered quickly and readied itself to shoot a blast at the opposing monster.

Neither of them seemed to realize what Joey was doing. The blond smirked as he toyed with the card that was still in his hand, and had been for the past few minutes. "I activate the secondary effect of Kunai with Chain! It switches any monster on the field to defense mode, and I choose the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!" The look of surprise on the face of Seth's monster was priceless as the kunai once again swept out of nowhere, binding it quickly and forcing it into defense position. Sword Hunter made quick work of its opponent, before turning around and bowing to the two boys. He disappeared, signifying that the battle was over.

Joey grinned as he looped an arm around Tristan's shoulders. "Well, that was fun. Wouldn't you say so, pal?"

Tristan chuckled as he slipped deftly out of Joey's half-hug. "Stop acting like Duo Maxwell. We have to see if there's anything else going on."

Heading back to the police car, Tristan once again took the driver's seat, ignoring Joey's complaints. As soon as they were both inside, he sped off back to Domino, and Joey once again resumed fiddling with the radio.

"…threat from the suburbs has mysteriously disappeared," a man's voice announced on the private police channel. "Danger level has gone down to orange in the area, and remains orange in the main part of Domino City. Investigations of Domino High and the other two locations of so-called monster attacks are still being investigated. And as a side note to all, two teenage boys, students at the local high school, have hijacked a police car for their own uses, claiming that they would return it after inquiring about the attack in the suburbs. It is assumed that is where they were headed, so all police in the area should stay alert and pull over a police car with license plate 8FDS9655. I repeat, if a car with license plate 8FDS9655 is seen…"

Tristan glanced over at Joey and sweatdropped. "We're in trouble now. Think we should ditch the car or just head back?"

Joey shrugged. "Head back. Besides," he smirked, "who in their right mind would try to pull over a police car anyway?"

* * *

She'd almost forgotten just how much fun it was to be fighting in a melee, where complete chaos reigned and anyone who she didn't recognize was a target for her randomly thrown blasts.

Almost.

Seiyaryu laughed aloud as she let loose another attack, grinning wildly as she watched at least ten monsters fall, and the others scatter around the crater she had made. Dimly aware of the sounds of battle slightly behind her and the other flying monsters that were swooping down and attacking on all sides, she darted upwards for a split second and Razor Flare Blasted some of Seth's flying army under her. Doing a quick turn in midair, she also shot at the ones above her before diving down again, raking at the land monsters with her claws and blinding a Pale Beast in the process. Flitting upwards again, she continued the cycle, occasionally dodging attacks. Mad laughter came out of her throat, causing one of the Whiptail Crows to quickly back away, right before it was blasted into pieces.

Man, this was fun… Doing a quick flip in midair, the dragon was just in time to notice a few of the monsters pool their power for a combined attack – straight at her. Yelping, Seiyaryu shot upwards with record speed, and the heat of the explosion reverberated on her scales. Slightly irritated now, she quickly scratched, bit, and generally slashed them until they were no more than little pieces of… whatever Duel Monsters were made of… drifting off into the Shadow Realm, where they would eventually be used to create different monsters. Her mind wasn't on that, however, as Wingweaver flew past her at that moment, giving the dragon an annoyed look. "Seiyaryu! Stop fooling around and pay attention to what you're doing!"

"Wha – I'm not fooling around! I'm helping beat Seth's monsters!" she protested, but Wingweaver was out of hearing range by that time, quickly avoiding a Meda Bat's attack to fire off one of her own, obliterating the monster and a few behind it. Giving up on getting the fairy to believe her, Seiyaryu turned back to the battle, surveying the situation for a few moments before diving back into the fray.

If nothing else, the rebels definitely had the element of surprise. Seth probably hadn't been expecting them to be so organized, which probably pleased some of them to no end. The vanguard of the priest's army had been virtually eliminated, thanks to the archers in the back and warriors that had rushed them as soon as they had the chance. They were also forced into thinner lines near the back, thanks to the side attacks. The only problem was the sheer size of Seth's army, which could be used against them to circle around the rebel troops and attack from behind. Thankfully, there was a line of a few more trenches set up around the battlefield, so they'd have to go down a slope and risk being shot at before they had to climb a steep incline to get to the main field. Some of the weaker monsters, such as an Unhappy Maiden, Time Wizard, and a few of the rapidly multiplying Kuriboh were stationed around to prevent that from happening. At the moment, the rebels had the upper hand, thanks to some well-timed trap activations and a few combined attacks from the weaker monsters, but that might not last for long, now that said monsters were a bit tired out and had retreated to the back for a bit of a breather before attempting another devastating combo. The traps were also being attended to by the Masks of Darkness, though that was more easily said than done. Getting from one side of the battlefield to another was difficult, especially for a monster with only 900 attack, but the many Kuribohs were taking advantage of their powers to help protect them as much as they could. For now, none of the leaders of either side had been taken out – but then again, the battle had only just begun. Seth had yet to activate any magic or trap cards, and the Dark Hole and most of the rebel magic cards hadn't been used yet, leaving the Magicians of Faith to wait until the opportune moment before they had a chance to use their powers. But to whom the battle might go, as well as where it would be in a few hours, was anyone's guess.

Wingweaver wasn't having a really hard time of it, but she wasn't enjoying the fighting as much as Seiyaryu. On the contrary, she was feeling a little guilty each time she destroyed one of the opposing monsters. The dragon would call her crazy (though she wasn't exactly one to talk), citing that they were doing this partly to survive and that she couldn't apologize to everyone she killed, but the fairy couldn't really help it. It was in her nature as a fairy (not to mention a Light monster) to be caring and gentle, and she couldn't really change that no matter how hard she tried. Wingweaver wondered briefly if it was in the nature of a dragon to be hyper, crazy, and destructive, but she quickly dismissed it as a thought for a later time. Right now, she had a fight to concentrate on.

Her ponderings ended quickly when an assault from a floating Zombyra the Dark flew her way. The Kuriboh that had been hanging onto the back of her dress for dear life squeaked suddenly, announcing its presence, and split into two quickly. One of the fuzzballs quickly sacrificed itself to deflect the attack, and Wingweaver muttered a quick thanks to the remaining one before destroying the enemy monster. The Kuriboh on her back snuggled closer, trying to keep a decent hold on its ride, and Wingweaver decided to take a quick trip over to the back of the forces to check up on the healing monsters and everyone else. Heading over to the solid – if fuzzy – wall that marked the boundary of the battle, the fairy flew right through the Kuribohs, who parted to let her pass. Landing gracefully on the small space of empty ground beyond, she folded her wings as she came to a stop. The Kuriboh on her back let out a relieved sigh that it was no longer in danger of spiraling off Wingweaver and hopped onto her head, completely destroying the image of majesty and dignity that the fairy had unknowingly created. Striding over to Dian Keto the Cure Master, who seemed to be in charge of the operations in the back, Wingweaver asked, "How's everything going here?"

The magic card barely spared her a glance before she returned to her work, speaking over her shoulder to the monster. "Fine. So far, we've only had minimal injuries, and very few serious wounds."

"That's good…" Wingweaver paused, lowering her voice. "For the moment, things are going well out there, but I have a feeling that won't last long. Enjoy the rest while you can. Knowing Seth, he's got something unpleasant up his sleeve, and he could activate it at any moment."

The look on Dian Keto's face was grim. "I know. We'll just have to wait and see what it is, though, unless you have any brilliant ideas to stop him before he puts his plan into motion."

Wingweaver glanced over the collection of Numinous Healers, Injection Fairy Lillies, Cure Mermaids, Dancing Fairies holding Mooyan Curries, and various other magic, trap, and monster cards, all of which had healing properties of some sort. A Bad Reaction to Simochi was lurking to one side, obviously waiting for Seth to try and use healing cards of his own. "I'm not a mind reader; none of us are. There's no way for me to figure out what he's going to do, so for now, we'll have to just follow things the way they are and hope everything goes the way _we_ want it to."

The old woman snorted, turning around quickly to face Wingweaver. "And what are the chances of that, pray tell? I'm sure we've pleaded to Ra, Horus, Osiris, and just about every deity in existence except for Set to spare us today. If we're lucky, one of them is listening and will actually try to help us. We've done enough praying, so now we have to hope."

"But hoping's not enough, either," Wingweaver murmured. "We can't just sit back and hope the gods do everything for us. We have to do our part, too… and that means I should get back out there. I'll see you later." Bowing quickly to the magic card, she took off again, Kuriboh barely managing to grab hold of one of her wings and crawl onto her back before she plunged back into the skirmish.

Meanwhile, Seiyaryu was busy being chased around the field by a whole squadron of flying Duel Monsters, who were apparently very annoyed because she had set a Berfomet's tail on fire – and of course, said Berfomet just _had_ to be the leader of a group of them. Seiyaryu's Kuriboh – who she had unoriginally dubbed "Kuri" – was having a difficult time fending off the attacks, and every once in a while, a blast would come through and actually strike the dragon. That only ever served to make her slightly more annoyed, and she'd taken to insulting the opposing monsters – not a very good idea when there are at least thirty of them on your tail.

Seiyaryu yelped as one of the attacks clipped the edge of her wing, sending her flight into a sudden turn, creating blood that flowed down her side and turned into Shadow Realm particles as it dripped off, and making Kuri fly off her back from between her spikes. He somehow grabbed her tail on time before he fell off completely and was left to the mercy of Seth's monsters, and he squeaked indignantly.

"Sorry!" Seiyaryu apologized hurriedly, wincing as she beat her wings again. "Darn, that hurt! We've gotta get rid of them… any ideas, Kuri?"

The puffball blinked cutely a few times before letting out a triumphant squeal. Hopping so that he was clutching Seiyaryu's main head-spike, he uttered a few sounds that would seem like gibberish to most monsters and people. Luckily, the dragon had had plenty of prior experience with Kuriboh-talk and understood perfectly what Kuri was saying. An evil grin slowly spread across her face as she took a quick glance back at the creature on her shoulder. "Hm… there's an idea. Thanks." The Kuriboh nodded happily, a semi-evil look on its face. It was too cute to look completely evil… that is, unless you think that cute things are evil like certain people I know, but that's beside the point.

Anyway, Seiyaryu scanned the area around her for a few seconds before she spotted what she wanted, practically covered by a barrier of Kuribohs similar to her own companion. Kuri squealed joyfully at seeing all his clones, and the dragon took a brief second to roll her eyes before swooping down, parting the crowd of Kuribohs, and picking up the figure in the middle. It let out a slight shriek before realizing who was carrying it, and subsided, eyes wide at the dragon that held it in its claws. She rose in the air as quickly as she could, flinching at the pain and the blood running down her right wing, but she ignored it as she continued flitting around the melee.

Seiyaryu grinned down at the Magician of Faith she held, completely oblivious to the crowd of Kuribohs and evil flying monsters chasing after her. "Hey there. Beautiful day in the Shadow Realm, isn't it?"

The spellcaster just stared at her, dumbstruck. Seiyaryu sighed. "Okay, I need you for something important, but the timing needs to be exactly right. We have a plan, and you're part of it. We'll put you down after we're done, okay?" Kuri, still clutching Seiyaryu's head, let out an affirmative. Magician of Faith glanced between the two of them before nodding hesitantly, and the dragon's look turned grim. "Fine. Here we go!"

The section of the battlefield to which Seiyaryu was heading was crammed full of Seth's monsters, though surprisingly enough, there weren't any of the rebels around except for a few Kuribohs. Completely ignoring that fact, Seiyaryu dove to the ground quickly as Kuri filled Magician of Faith in on the details. Luckily, she seemed to understand puffball-talk just as well as Seiyaryu, so she got the idea soon enough and held on tight, apparently hoping that Seiyaryu was as good of a flyer as she claimed to be.

Kuri let out a squeak that could be roughly translated to "Almost there…" Neither of his companions bothered to answer, as they were busy concentrating on the task at hand. Suddenly, Seiyaryu dove quickly, towards the monsters below. She didn't bother blasting them, and those monsters following her were taken by surprise before they quickly followed. A loud shriek from Kuri told the rest of his fellows to stay back, and they hung around above, watching the scene that was unfolding curiously.

The monsters below attempted to strike the dragon on her vulnerable underbelly, and Seiyaryu suppressed a cry as a few of the attacks hit their targets, telling herself that they'd all be dead soon enough. Turning upwards, she used all of the power at her disposal to move upwards, ignoring the blood that had by now slid down her wing and was trailing down her side, dripping off slightly past her back leg. Shooting forward so fast that she was almost a blur, the dragon yelled, "Now!"

The reason quickly became clear why there was no one in the area, and why the Kuribohs had chosen to stay up in the air. Just as Seiyaryu yelled, what looked like an empty point in the Shadow Realm opened up a hundred feet behind her, so black that it absorbed all of the nearby light rather than the light illuminating it. Seth's monsters had barely enough time to wonder what was happening before they were sucked into it. The Dark Hole had taken effect, swallowing at least one hundred monsters in the process.

Seiyaryu had barely made it out of the range of the magic card when she started to laugh hysterically. "Take _that!_ That'll teach you to mess with me! Mwahahahaha – Hey, M of Faith, can you do your job now?"

Sweatdropping slightly at Seiyaryu's sudden mood change, the spellcaster agreed and quickly worked her magic, bringing the Dark Hole card back in facedown mode, for the next monster to use in a tight spot. True to her word, the dragon dropped her off as soon as she got the chance, and the wall of Kuribohs that had been following them resumed their wall around her. Kuri waved goodbye to them with one claw as his ride took off towards the back, where even more of the Kuriboh-clones were gathered.

As she took off, Wingweaver noticed Seiyaryu heading towards the back, along with the blood-turning-particles running down her wing and belly. Sighing and wondering just _what_ exactly the weaker monster had gotten herself into, she kept attacking the monsters around her as the battle continued.

It went on this way for a good few hours – attacking, dodging attacks, activating magic and trap cards, darting around to any section that needed help, and holding off the monsters in problem areas. Seiyaryu emerged from the back ten minutes after she had gone in before diving headfirst back into the tussle, blasting at random and occasionally leaving poor Kuri behind. It was only when one of the Key Maces popped up in front of Wingweaver and squeaked an inquiry. Her Kuriboh answered quickly, and Wingweaver blinked. "The report? Oh yeah… give it a few more minutes. Follow me and I'll tell you what to say when the time comes."

Wingweaver did a quick circle around the field and took a quick note of how everything was going. As of now, they seemed to be somewhat evenly matched, though Seth had yet to bring his magic and traps into play. When that happened, the tide would most certainly turn against them. Not a good thing…

Speaking of Seth, he was nowhere to be seen. It had been assumed that he'd been at the castle when they'd attacked, but even before that, no one had seen hide nor hair of the former high priest. Wingweaver was starting to get suspicious, and for good reason.

The mystery of Seth's whereabouts was answered when she flew more towards the direction of the castle, where most of the monsters were Seth's army and there were very few rebels. Scanning the area quickly and finding nothing, Wingweaver was about to turn back when Kuriboh poked her lightly, letting out a small cry. When she turned back to see what all the fuss was about, he pointed forward, past the edge of the battlefield. Peering in that direction, Wingweaver could dimly see a line of… something… advancing on them. She dove a bit closer to the ground to avoid being seen, speeding forward cautiously. She stopped about five hundred feet in front of them, hovering as close to the ground as she could behind a ledge.

What she did see was not a good thing. The line was a whole collection of Duel Monsters, most of them big, huge, and powerful – and obviously most of the rest of Seth's army. The worst part of it was who was at the head – three humans. Upon closer inspection, she could recognize two and guess at the identity of the third – Seth, Zake, and a boy who looked almost exactly like Seth and was obviously none other than Seto Kaiba.

_'…NOT good.'_ After thanking Kuriboh for his observation, she turned back and made it back to their side of the battlefield without incident. Wingweaver reached the wall of Kuribohs at the back of the battlefield easily, landing behind them and turning to see a harassed-looking Dian Keto. "Hey, what's up?"

Dian Keto shook her head. "It's not going too well." Taking a glance over the magic's shoulder, Wingweaver had to agree. Too many of the rebels were gathered back here, and too many of them had injuries that would prevent them from continuing to fight. "And there's one other thing."

Wingweaver had a foreboding feeling as she turned back to Dian Keto. "What is it?"

Dian Keto pointed behind the fairy, to the solid, fuzzy wall of Kuribohs that created a barrier. The Kuriboh on Wingweaver's back glanced towards them, puzzled, before he chirped an inquiry. The magic card shook her head. "They won't last much longer."

"What's going on?" Wingweaver demanded urgently.

Dian Keto gave her a grim look. "The Blue-Eyes and some of the stronger flying monsters have decided to break through this wall. When that happens…"

"…Then there will be no place for the injured to be tended, nowhere to take a breather, everyone back here will die, and we will most definitely lose the battle."

* * *

A/N: Okay, for one thing, I used the effect that Call of the Haunted has in the anime, because that made things more difficult. For another, Sword Hunter has an effect that equips every monster it destroys to itself and raises its attack by 500, but I chained it so that Call of the Haunted was activated _after_ Sword Hunter's effect. Since chains are resolved backwards, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon was revived before Sword Hunter could equip it. Also, I'm not sure exactly how much Kunai with Chain raises a monster's attack. I think it was 700, but I'm not sure. Even it only gave a power boost of 500 attack points, that would be enough to still destroy the Thunder Dragon.

Hm… sorry that there's none of the mortals and spirits in this chapter. I was planning to add them in, except this is already longer than I planned it to be, so most of next chapter will be about them. Also, since I have practically no free time anymore except on weekends and I have a few other fics where I want to update faster, new chapters will be a little later than expected until I finish chemistry stuff, about a month from now. But hey, at least I got this out before _three_ weeks passed since my last update…

R-E-V-I-E-W! Reviewers, as explained, get ultra-kawaii chibi-Kuriboh plushies. You'll also get Popsicles (since it's summer where I am and getting a bit hot), shaped like Kuribohs! And flames will be given to Kuribohs to do with as they please. Okay, enough with my Kuriboh mini-obsession, REVIEW!


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